this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. still no result in the us presidential election as democratjoe biden edges closer to the white house. the counting continues — in georgia it's down to the wire. joe biden takes the lead by just 917 votes. the democratic contender calls for calm and patience — he says he has no doubt he will be declared the winner when counting is completed. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. donald trump has made more unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud and launched legal action against some results. if you count the legal votes, i easily win.

if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. from today, everyone living or working in liverpool will be offered coronavirus tests, whether or not they have symptoms — in the uk's first mass testing programme. businesses and employees digest the extension of the uk furlough scheme to the end of march — and work out what it will mean for them. students at the university of manchester pull down metal barriers on the first day of england's new lockdown as hundreds of students — who said they were not warned about the measure — protest. an advert for a coronavirus "passport" app, which has been promoted by zara and mike tindall, has been referred to the medical regulator over concerns it contradicts health guidance.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. joe biden is closing in on the white house in with just a handful of states still counting votes. president trump has repeated his assertion that he has won tuesday's us election, and accused his opponents of trying to steal it through voter fraud. currentlyjoe biden is projected to have 253 electoral college votes, with donald trump on 214. as you can see there, 270 votes are needed to win the white house. in georgia, joe biden has pulled ahead in the last few minutes, with 99% of the votes counted. if biden takes georgia, there is no pathway for donald trump

to achieve the required 270 electoral college votes to secure the presidency. there are less than 1,000 votes between the two men. both candidates on 49.4% of the vote. joe biden is projected to need 17 more electoral college votes to reach the magic 270. georgia would be worth 16. the key remaining states along with georgia are nevada, pennsylvania, north carolina and arizona. joe biden increased his lead by winning the ten electoral college votes in wisconsin. we should have a map that you. apologies for that. mr trump has said the legal action he was taking in the most closely contested states was to protect the integrity of the election — but he gave no evidence to back up his allegations. i'm joined from georgia by tia mitchell, a correspondent with the atlanta journal—constitution newspaper.

thank you forjoining us. an hour ago when we were talking about georgia, donald trump was ahead by about a50 votes, and in that our things have switched around, haven't they? yes, there is a county in georgia, clayton county, a suburb of atla nta, georgia, clayton county, a suburb of atlanta, and they have been counting ballots throughout the night and they have been incrementally giving updates around every half an hour, and in the most recent update they had enough votes counted that put joe biden ahead, as you mentioned before, by about 900 votes. these are the mail—in ballots, the postal ballots, as we would call them in the uk, that seem to favourjoe biden? yes, because as a ramification of the pandemic, democrats really encouraged voters

to request mail—in ballots, which we also call absentee ballots, whereas republicans began to discourage the use of mail—in ballots, which is a flip—flop, historically republicans we re flip—flop, historically republicans were much more likely to use mail—in ballots, but that changed during the pandemic, and as a result the in—person voting had more republicans represented than the mail—in ballots, so now that the mail—in ballots, so now that the mail—in ballots, so now that the mail—in ballots, which take a bit more time, because georgia laws so you cannot start counting those mail—in ballots until after the polls close on tuesday night. so it is taking some time. yours is one of the states, tia, where donald trump has launched a legal challenge. where are we at with that? the one legal challenge that the president launched has already been dismissed bya launched has already been dismissed by a judge. it regarded ballot counting in savannah, another city

in georgia, one of the republican poll watchers alleged some ballots that came in after the deadline were being counted but when it went before a judge there was no evidence to back that up and so the judge dismissed that lawsuit. we do expect that the trump campaign is at least looking at places where they may file additional legal action, as well as if the vote count remains close there likely will be a recount in georgia. how would you describe the public mood there right now, tia, between the donald trump supporters and joe biden supporters? joe biden's supporters are up watching the results, celebrating a little bit now thatjoe biden is ahead. i think donald trump's supporters by and large are willing to be patient and allow every vote to be patient and allow every vote to be patient and allow every vote to be counted. there was a relatively small protest of about 100 people in atlanta today of trump

supporters who were kind of peddling some of the misinformation that the president and his supporters had been saying about there being fraud and the vote being stolen. that is unfounded and again that was a relatively small protest. for the most part, georgians want the counting to continue because they know that's part of a fair election process. the senate race is pretty interesting there too. we have two senate races and it looks like both of them are going to a run—off so we expect all eyes to remain on georgia through the run—off onjanuary five that could determine two senate seats and whether they go democratic 01’ seats and whether they go democratic or republican, and there is a chance that those two senate seats could determine if democrats could get control of the senate. just very briefly, could you give us a timeframe of when we could expect the result in georgia? a couple of hours may be? well, no, not only are

there counties that still need to continue counting ballots, it is early in the morning here so they are going to start getting back to it. but there are also ballots coming in from overseas, that deadline is the end of the day today, so there are several thousand more ballots in georgia that need to be counted. so even though biden is in the lead, it's not yet time to call the race in georgia. 0k, a little way to go. tia, really good to talk to you, thank you for your time, tia mitchell, corresponding with the atlanta journal—constitution newspaper. we can speak to our washington correspondent ben wright. interesting to hear direct from the state of georgia, another one of these are really close contests, the situation flipping around there in favour ofjoe biden from when we last spoke around an hour ago. but just give us an overview of where we are, not only in georgia, but with the other states that remain in contention. why this is so important

is that president trump cannot be re—elected unless he wins georgia and pennsylvania. he is behind in the electoral college tally at the moment and he needs those two states if he has a chance of winning this race. and so that's why this shift in the last few minutes is potentially very significant in georgia. joe biden taking a lead there of 917 votes. but as tia mitchell was just saying to you, thatis mitchell was just saying to you, that is incredibly close. there are not that many more votes in georgia to count. a few thousand, not much more than that. if the margin between the two candidates after all votes have been counted is less than 0.5%, than either side can request a recount and you can bet that ifjoe biden remains in front, then donald trump a's campaign absolutely will call for a recount once those votes have been verified. i don't think any network is going to be tempted to call this until eitherjoe biden really stretches out beyond that

0.5% margin, orthey really stretches out beyond that 0.5% margin, or they wait for the recount 0.5% margin, or they wait for the recou nt process 0.5% margin, or they wait for the recount process to play out. —— donald trump's campaign. that is why georgia is significant, to be in contention donald trump has to win the state. another state that is in contention is pennsylvania, donald trump's lead has been crumbling through the night, he is at about 18,000 ahead ofjoe biden now and there are far more votes still to count in pennsylvania than in georgia. we think there are about 1a0,000-150,000 to be georgia. we think there are about 1a0,000—150,000 to be counted, mail—in ballots, of course, and we think the vast majority of those are coming from very democrat leaning parts of the state, philadelphia cou nty parts of the state, philadelphia county and over towards pittsburgh. i think the biden campaign will be confident that the numbers in pennsylvania are going to shift their weight quite dramatically over their weight quite dramatically over the next few hours. under bisley we heard from president trump, the first time we have heard from him since early wednesday —— and obviously. he repeated assertions

for which he offered no evidence about voter fraud and insisting that he has won this election, even though not all the votes are counted. what is the thinking in the trump campaign right now, those closest to him, about the way this is going? because some republican governors, other republican politicians, have been coming out and saying, essentially, steady on, you can't really say these things, but we have not heard it from leading republican voices yet, have we? no, we haven't, we had the republican governor of maryland calling it in an appropriate attack on the democratic process. lindsey graham, close ally of the president stood by him and stood by the comments when he spoke a few hours ago. vice president mike pence did the same. we wait to hear from other senior republicans who publicly have been very supportive of the president over the last four years but i think may privately feel that his performance in the white house

last night was knocked fitting of his office and was just not appropriate or helpful really. he was attacking the poll workers and the democratic process and i think they may feel, look, just let these votes be counted and see where we are after that. donald trump was repeating claims he has been making 110w repeating claims he has been making now for most of his presidency. he's had a real beef about mail—in ballots a nd had a real beef about mail—in ballots and believes they are right forfraud, even ballots and believes they are right for fraud, even though there is ballots and believes they are right forfraud, even though there is no evidence for that. he had his own commission looking at the issue which had to be disbanded because they couldn't find any evidence of fraud. but he is trying to, i think, denigrate and delegitimise this process because he is looking at the maths right now and seeing that it isjoe biden maths right now and seeing that it is joe biden knocking maths right now and seeing that it isjoe biden knocking on the door of the white house and that he could be, if it stays like this, on his way out. 0k, be, if it stays like this, on his way out. ok, then, thank you very much. ben wright in washington. let's cross from the east coast to

the west coast and speak to peter in a moment, but first let's look at some of the other states that are still counting. in arizona, joe biden is leading. he has 50.1% of the vote. donald trump has a8.5%. 91% of the votes have been counted in the state, which is worth 11 electoral college votes. in nevada, joe biden is leading with a9.a% of the vote. trump has a8.5%. 89% of the votes have been counted in the state. it's worth six electoral college votes, but in many ofjoe biden's projected routes to the white house, nevada is the state which tips him over to victory. in north carolina, trump leads with 50%. joe biden is on a8.6%, with 96% of the votes counted so far. the state is worth 15 electoral college votes.

a lot of percentages to take on board there, but you can see that the maths is pretty tight all round. as promised, let's cross to the west coast of the states now and our correspondent peter bowes. the figures are really tight but there are limited path‘s now, it seems, for donald trump to get back into the white house for another term if georgia and philadelphia, pennsylvania, go joe biden's georgia and philadelphia, pennsylvania, gojoe biden's way. we don't know the state of play fully in philadelphia, pennsylvania, i should say, but it seems to be tipping injoe should say, but it seems to be tipping in joe biden's should say, but it seems to be tipping injoe biden's favour at the moment. i want to speak to you about the public mood, first of all, amongst trump voters and biden voters. what is your assessment of that? well, i think biden voters are sitting quietly on holding their breaths and perhaps taking their lead from joe biden himself, who has

asked his supporters, but more broadly asked americans to be patient and let the process play out. and it is turning into quite a long process because we are in a very unusual year. it doesn't normally take this amount of time to count all of the postal ballots but so count all of the postal ballots but so many people chose to use postal ballots this year because of the coronavirus that we are in a very different scenario. i thinkjoe biden, who has been sounding optimistic and sounding positive and saying every time he has spoken since tuesday that he does expect to become the next president but he wa nts to become the next president but he wants to see the numbers counted and the votes completely counted. certainly i think his supporters are taking the same attitude. as far as president trump's supporters are concerned, i think there is more of a sense of concern, of impatience, and perhaps if they share the president's views about the system and the votes that are being counted after tuesday, and the way that perhaps some of the observers, as the trump campaign see it, haven't

been able to get as close to the people actually counting the votes as they would like, well, i think there is a certain amount of anger about that and feeling by the president it should be looked at by the courts. peter, let's talk more about the courts, because, do you think ultimately this could end up in the supreme court? donald trump has certainly talked about that a lot, hasn't he? but would it get as far as that ifjoe biden gets to those 270 electoral college votes and donald trump doesn't say the words "i concede" what happens next? that's exactly it, you have pinpointed it. the process would be that the states would essentially be projected forjoe biden winning, he would come out and say i've won the election, and then normally in a normal year the loser would come out and concede and say congratulations to the other guy, you've won the election, let's move on. but this is no normal year so we can assume

perhaps present trump will not do that and will pursue and continue with this argument that the courts need to look at the way that the votes have been counted. it will perhaps start with the lower courts and it does have the potential to go to the supreme court, the highest court in the land. but before we get to that point the trump campaign and trump's army of lawyers he has been saying in the last days that they have raised millions of dollars from people just since tuesday to pay for this legal effort, they have to come up this legal effort, they have to come up with court documents that set out the allegations and set out the allegations with some clarity. that's what we haven't heard yet. we don't know in detail what the legal argument will be, whether it is to a lower court or the supreme court. clearly they are working behind—the—scenes to put these documents together, if that's what they are doing, but there seems to be quite a way to go before we can see the trump campaign in front of

the supreme court. 0k, peter, thank you very much. peter bowes there. we can speak now to randy kroszner, who was a member of the federal reserve. he is now professor of economics at the university of chicago booth school of business. you're very welcome, thank you for joining us on bbc news today. before we get into the detail of what might happen next, let's talk about the economics of america right now and the situation that either president trump will continue with, or ifjoe biden wins, will inherit. put this in some context for us because the economy has absolutely played a huge pa rt economy has absolutely played a huge part in this election campaign. economy has absolutely played a huge part in this election campaignm certainly has and of course the economy was doing extremely well until the pandemic struck. the us had record low unemployment, basically the lowest it has been in 50 yea rs. basically the lowest it has been in 50 years. people had thought president trump was doing a good job in handling the economy and that's why the polls had him ahead until

the coronavirus struck and then obviously there has been a lot more questions and concerns since then. now the unemployment rate went up very significantly, has come back down and we are starting to see a strong down and we are starting to see a strong recovery, down and we are starting to see a strong recovery, but of course, much like here in london, because i am here at our london campus, we are seeing a significant increase in the number of cases and state—by—state lockdowns, more restrictions that are undoubtedly going to slow the recovery. so it's a very challenging timeline going forward. the momentum at the moment, do busily votes are still to be counted, we must always repeat that, but the momentum seems to be with joe repeat that, but the momentum seems to be withjoe biden. in his campaign he has talked a lot about a green recovery plan. if he is to win, but the republicans still control one of the houses in the us congress, how much difficulty do you think he might have getting any sort of stimulus packages he wants to

push through actually through a vote ? push through actually through a vote? that's the key challenge, because we saw about a month ago, a couple of months ago, that republicans did want to spend money on stimulus and so did the democrats but they couldn't agree on exactly what and how much. republicans were willing to go to roughly 2 trillion, but not 3 trillion which the democrats wanted. these are astonishingly large numbers. we had already spent $3 trillion early in the year, 15% of gdp. the key is not just that the republicans don't want to spend and the democrats want to spend. i think both want to spend, but on what? this is going to be one of the key issues thatjoe biden has focused a lot on spending on green energy, and that's clearly not where the republicans are and certainly not were present trump has been. that's going to be one of the challenges. —— president trump. they may get something through, joe biden may get something through, joe biden may not get as much as he wanted on

the green side, but may be the republicans will get some other things they want. if they can get something through, not as large as whatjoe biden would want and not the same allocation he would want. very briefly on tax cuts, ifjoe biden gets into the white house and wa nts to biden gets into the white house and wants to try to reverse some of the tax cuts which were so popular with many tax cuts which were so popular with ma ny voters tax cuts which were so popular with many voters that president trump made, is he going to be able to make that? that will be an uphill battle also. interestingly, the corporate tax cuts that came through were part of something that president 0bama and joe biden had pushed for because corporate tax rates in the us were very high relative to other major countries, and as you may recall, there were these so—called inversions where us companies were moving to low tax havens like ireland so it would be ironic ifjoe biden wants to go back to something he had actually said he wanted to change. 0k, professor randy kroszner

from the chicago booth school of business, thank you for your time today. president trump has tweeted multiple times promoting claims of voter fraud — without providing any evidence. now false and unsubstantiated claims about ballot burning and rigged elections are going viral online — and inspiring big online movements. so what impact do unproved claims like this have coming from the president? with me is our disinformation reporter, marianna spring. disinformation seems to be right at the forefront of this election campaign, certainly in a way that it never has before in the us election process. what are the key things you have been investigating? over the past couple of days there has been an absolute storm of disinformation on social media, as you say, often driven by unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud and rigged elections being made by the president himself. and in fact, the speech he made last night where he spoke about illegal votes and he spoke about illegal votes and he spoke about illegal votes and he spoke about fraud, and spoke about trying to rig elections has been

like gasoline for the fire of disinformation that is currently raging on sites like facebook and instagram. and not only have we seen false videos making claims about ballot burning, or ballot dumping, which have been shared by the president's son, we have also seen huge facebook groups that have sprung up often using this hashtag has shine stop this deal, it went viral on election night and has continued to be used in the days afterwards. these groups have thousands of members and one yesterday had over 300,000 members and not only are they hotbeds for false claims about voter fraud and rigged elections, they contain a number of worrying comments about threats. facebook has moved to remove the largest of the groups but there are more growing as the hours go on. if people only consume their media, the news from a certain type of source and the people they follow are espousing one particular viewpoint of the world,

you have got to ask the question what real world impact does the misinformation have? is this paving the way for serious doubts over the integrity of the us election? that's the real worry and it is important to point out that viral disinformation is notjust some quirk of the internet, it can have real—world consequences, these threats of violence shared in facebook groups are one of the biggest worries that unsubstantiated allegations about voter fraud and some of the false claims we are seeing circulating and conspiracies about rigged elections could actually lead to unrest, and as you say, a rejection of the result. this is something that has been building for months. we have seen a gradual drip, drip of voting disinformation and conspiracy theories being spread but it has escalated massively and when it is being shared by large public figures, or even president trump himself it is unsurprising that it has gone so viral. ok, marianna spring, thank you very much for that, our misinformation reporter.

the uk's first mass testing programme gets under way in liverpool city today. hundreds of thousands of people living or working there will be able to access repeat coronavirus tests — whether they're showing symptoms or not. if successful, the government say pilots could be rolled out to millions by christmas. with me is dr emily adams, senior lecturer in diagnostics for infectious disease at the liverpool school of tropical medicine. and also i'm joined by dr alexandra brazinova, an epidemiologist at the medical faculty of comenius university in bratislava in slovakia which has been mass testing in the last few weeks. i will begin with you and what the situation has been like in the last few weeks. how effective is it proving to be? we are using a new antigen test and it is hard to say how well it works, we will see in a couple of weeks if the rates, the

incidence is really dropping down, that's what we want to see. since we introduced some measures like a partial lockdown, a month ago, it will be hard to evaluate whether these dropping numbers are because of the testing, or it is more of a combined effect. and how willing are people there to actually come forward and take part in this mass testing? it was quite a huge undertaking. basically, two thirds of the population were tested last weekend and until the last minute it looked like it would not work out because many of the testing sites we re because many of the testing sites were still missing health care workers to do the tests. but then in the end, actually, they all opened and it worked out. i must say that we we re and it worked out. i must say that we were all surprised how willing and how much energy people put into volunteering and helping at these

testing sites, health care workers and volunteers volunteered to work there for the whole weekend. so people were quite enthusiastic and it was all implement it successfully. let me leave you for a moment, alexandra, and turn to doctor emily adams at the liverpool school of tropical medicine. listening to what has been going on there, how does the liverpool mass testing getting under way today compare to that? in liverpool, as you know, 2000 members of the army have been brought in to help coordinate and facilitate the mass testing. we have a crossed team academics at the university and liverpool health partners and nhs trust and city council working together to make this roll out a successful and impactful in the city. is it an antigen test people are being asked to take, the same as

we have heard about in slovakia? exactly, it will be these lateral flow tests we have been evaluating the city for several months now, and these are available at the point of care, they literally take 15 minutes to run. they will detect people with the highest viral loads, and assuming that those are the most infectious people. we know that people with covid—19 have a high viral load in their asymptomatic or presymptomatic time when they sort of may be just have very mild symptoms that you might brush off. we are hoping that we are able to detect those people who are sort of hidden in the transmission chain at the moment. you are talking about people with a high viral load but what if someone comes forward with a low viral load or is asymptomatic? will these tests pick up that that person does have coronavirus? 0bviously person does have coronavirus? obviously if they do that would really increase the effectiveness of this mass testing pilot. so, we know

that the tests will detect three out of four, or four out of five cases, so we of four, or four out of five cases, so we know that we will miss some cases. so it's important that the community know that if they have any symptoms they must still isolate and they must go for the regular drive—through pcr testing as well. but we estimate that by targeting at least three quarters of cases that we will have a dramatic reduction in transmission. back to you, doctor alexandra brazinova, what sort of timeframe are you putting on this to see if this mass testing can make a difference in driving down cases of the virus? well, this is exactly what we were worried about, that with such large—scale testing we would get a lot of false negative results, people that tested negative but in reality having low viral load are still infectious but not

diagnosed by the test. so they will be able to spread the disease. that's why we are quite cautious and the message to the public is no matter what the result of the test you have, please be careful. and as isaid you have, please be careful. and as i said earlier, it will take at least three or four weeks, i would say, to see if this testing really worked in the sense that we caught most of the people that are spreading the disease. ok, that's really interesting, emily, what alexander is saying. i know there has been a lot of local publicity in liverpool about this testing programme, encouraging people to get involved. you absolutely want them to. but just because involved. you absolutely want them to. butjust because they get a negative test on one occasion, in orderfor this pilot to really, really work, they need to display a good degree of caution, don't they good degree of caution, don't they go about their daily lives? exactly, and we have lockdown measures in the uk and we have been under tier 3

here for several weeks, so i think people are very knowledgeable about the virus and they are very aware of any symptom onset. so we are hopeful that we will have a really great community involvement, like they have done in slovakia. and that we are able to test a large proportion of our population over the next two weeks. are you optimistic, emily, that this can make a difference and that this can make a difference and that this can be up to a wider area of the uk? yes, absolutely. these are the type of tests that work very well in an asymptomatic population because there is no laboratory, people can literally run them as they stand. so i'm optimistic that these tests are going to have a really big impact. ok, doctor emily adams from the liverpool school of tropical medicine and doctor alexandra brazinova from the medical faculty of convenience university in bratislava, thank you for your time.

hello this is bbc news with anita mcveigh. the headlines: still no result in the us presidential election as democratjoe biden edges closer to the white house. the counting continues, in georgia it's down to the wire. joe biden takes the lead by just 917 votes. from today, everyone living or working in liverpool will be offered coronavirus tests, whether or not they have symptoms — in the uk's first mass testing programme. the furlough scheme in the uk will be extended till the end of march, and will continue to cover the wages of workers who are unable to do theirjob because of coronavirus restrictions. chancellor rishi sunak has also extended help for the self—employed. our business correspondent, katie prescott reports at the start of the first lockdown, the word "furlough" suddenly became very familiar. the aim of the scheme was simple, a grant to pay 80% of the wages of those who could not work because of coronavirus restrictions.

since its start, over 9 million people have been supported by it. but as restrictions eased, the scheme was being wound down, due to end on the 31st of october. a less generous replacement was planned. but last saturday, borisjohnson announced a new four—week lockdown in england with businesses across the country told to close their doors. and, at the same time, he announced a month—long extension of the furlough scheme across the uk, broadly similar to the original. but the chancellor has now said the scheme will run until the end of march — a huge relief to many businesses and their staff. the extension of the furlough scheme is undoubtedly positive. my team will have some income for that period of time. the problem is that there may not be a business that is as strong at the end of it because we will have a heavily—reduced income. we would typically be bringing in 80% of our profit for the year during november and december and i was counting on that for our recovery.

there was also an extension of the scheme designed to help the self—employed and to business loan programmes. but about 3 million people are still falling through the cracks of government help. being ineligible for the grants has made me primarily very angry and very disheartened. we put money aside for many years to cover ourselves for this kind of situation in terms of maybe a small window of time where we do not have work but we could never have seen something like this happening with no idea as to when we are going to be able to work again and when the money is going to run out. the chancellor's measures have been criticised for coming too late in the day for many businesses who had already decided to let people go. in response, the government says, "anyone made redundant after the 23rd of september can be rehired and put back on furlough." at a cost of more than £50 billion so far, it's hugely expensive but the government feels it is better than the human cost

of mass unemployment. katie prescott, bbc news. the prime minister has stressed that people in england should stay at home, as a second lockdown begins. borisjohnson said he knew people were weary but four weeks of measures would make a "real impact" on the virus. here's our health and science correspondent james gallagher to talk us through the strategy of the second lockdown. lockdown is the measure nobody wanted, but the government has decided we need. the aim is to avoid hospitals buckling under the weight of coronavirus and to stop people dying. the number of covid patients in hospital is already rising. without a lockdown, there are fears about the nhs's ability to cope with covid and the impact it would have on other patients too.

remember, this virus can spread easily. at the start of the pandemic the number of people each infected person passed the virus onto, known as the r number, was three. this is explosive growth. the changes we've all made to our lives did make a difference. 0n the eve of lockdown, the r number was around 1.2. look at the impact — the virus was spreading far more slowly. but cases were still growing, lockdown should make it so hard for the virus to spread that cases actually fall. but we don't know how well it's going to work. there are more than 50,000 people being infected every day. some estimates suggest that after a brief rise, infections could fall by more than two—thirds by the end of lockdown. but in a worst case, four weeks of pain might lead to just a 10% drop and leave us in a sticky situation. this huge uncertainty comes

partly from schools. millions of children will still be in the classroom this time and we just don't know what that means. it will take around two weeks before we can tell how well lockdown is working. the worry though is that as soon as we lift restrictions, cases could start to rise again. some scientists think we could face yet more waves of covid that need to be controlled with a lockdown. the hope is this one will buy time to research a vaccine, improve the testing programme or at least get us closer to spring when the warmer weather will make it harder for the virus to spread. james, thank you very much. students at the uk university of manchester have torn down security fencing that was put up around parts of the campus accomodation on day one of england's lockdown. the university has since apologised and say all the barriers, which were put up without any warning to the residents, will be removed this morning. andy moore reports. the moment when students tore down

what they called a wall. the erection of the barriers had generated enormous anger, with crowds of students marching through the fallowfield campus. the university said the fences were meant as a security measure to help avoid what it called the mixing of households. but construction started before residents were informed. so students saw them as yet another infringement of their liberty. we have no access to communal spaces and now they are locking us up. they are locking us up from our green spaces, they are locking us up from seeing people in other halls. it is not our fault. it is not our fault! cheering. manchester university's vice chancellor has now apologised for the concern and distress caused by the fence. professor dame nancy rothwell said it was never their intention to stop students entering or leaving the site. dismantling of the barrier will start this morning. the university says it will be replaced by extra security patrols. andy moore, bbc news. we are nowjoined by

billie harvey munro, a third year drama student at manchester uni, who is part of a campaign group called ‘safer‘ — set up to provide what they call financial, academic and physical safety of students and has been supporting the residents on fallowfield campus. i know you don't live on fallowfield yourself, but thank you forjoining us yourself, but thank you forjoining us to talk about this. what is your assessment of the situation today? the university has issued an apology and try to offer an explanation for what he did? i think the issue isn't the fences themselves it is the total lack of communication. there has been no transparency, students we re has been no transparency, students were not one. we have a bunch of first—year students who are scared about the current crisis anyway and then they wake up and look out of their window and see fences erected on the first day of lockdown, they are going to assume they have been imprisoned. why where they not

informed? it demonstrates to us how little the university has prioritised students at this time. 0ne prioritised students at this time. one of the reasons the university gave for putting up the fences, and let mejust gave for putting up the fences, and let me just refer to this statement, it wasn't their intention, quite the reverse. they didn't want to cause any concern or distress but it was intended as a response to a number of concerns received from staff and stu d e nts of concerns received from staff and students on the site about safety and security, particularly about access by people who are not residents. that is a statement from the president and the vice chancellor. do you accept the intentions were good but the communication wasn't? whatever their intentions were, it wasn't communicated. this could have been circulated for several days and stu d e nts circulated for several days and students could have responded and said, we are not comfortable with this or we are comfortable with this. at least they would have had the morning. you cannot be making decisions like that and not inform

anyone. we contacted staff on the fallowfield campus and asked what was going on. they could not tell us themselves, so there is a lack of communication piece between students and the university and also staff at the campus. i spoke to a first year stu d e nts the campus. i spoke to a first year students who lives in the fallowfield halls and he said cutting the fences up intensified the feeling of already being trapped, the feeling that has been created because of the lockdown, because of coronavirus and so on. if you try to get inside the heads of eve ryo ne you try to get inside the heads of everyone living in the holes and looking out at these fences, you can understand where these feelings are coming from. but can you understand the reaction that some students took to start to pull these fences down or do you think that was an overreaction by them?” or do you think that was an overreaction by them? i think it has been a long build—up for the students. it wasn't just some social media craze, this has been going on for months. i have been in contact

with so many first—year students, people who have been told to isolate because a positive test. they have not been given any food or support from campus staff and then they have been given food after isolating, food that would then expire the next day. i had a student tell me they had no where to get any food and they were told to go to sainsburys wearing a mask. which is illegal, because they have been told to isolate by the government. it has been a long build—up of students moving from home, a lot of them living away from home for the first time in their lives, being locked up with a bunch of strangers in this scary environment and offered no support from the university. scary environment and offered no support from the universitylj scary environment and offered no support from the university. i think the university would probably dispute they have offered no support and we don't have a specific response from the university to the issue around provision of food. 0bviously some of the circumstances are beyond everyone's control. just

to get back to the communication, the specific issue, is anything going on to try and improve channels of communication because that seems to be at the heart of the problem in this scenario? that is what we stand for, we want transparency from the university. we want a clear action plan and we want to know how they will navigate the coronavirus pandemic, because it is constantly changing. we don't expect they should have all the answers, but we wa nt to should have all the answers, but we want to know student well—being is being prioritised and it feels to us that it being prioritised and it feels to us thatitis being prioritised and it feels to us that it is not being prioritised because there is no communication, and that needs to change. ok, thank you very much for your time today. student from the campaign group, safer. let's get more now on the us election counting has continued through the night in the handful of states which will decide the outcome. the democratic party contender, joe biden has urged his supporters to have faith in the process, and to remain calm.

in the last hour mr biden has edged ahead in the crucial state of georgia, if he wins here donald trump's chances of remaining in the white house will be dealt a severe blow. president trump has insisted he won tuesday's election, and accused his opponents of trying to steal it through voter fraud. let's get more from some of the key states still to declare — michelle fleury is in philadelphia in pennsylvania. the majority of the ballots have now been counted but the race is still too close to call. donald trump has had a lead in the keystone state but it has narrowed, even in the last few hours, it has shrunk. it was in some ways, what people had been expected. let me explain what i mean by that. in person votes tended to favour republicans. you may recall

donald trump encouraged his supporters to vote early. democrat tended to vote by post and they account for two thirds of the postal votes going forjoe biden. that is why you are seeing this late swing, they take longer to count. with me is former republican strategistjennifer kerns. thank you forjoining me, i want to get your take first of all on what president trump said recently, repeating his assertions he has won the election with some states still to declare. not offering evidence but saying that a fraud is being committed on the american people. where are you in the least surprised that he continue to repeat those claims? no, you look at states like nevada, which is on the west coast, a state i am very familiar with having worked with the california republican party. you have 10,000 individuals in the state of nevada

who are deceased and who have recently moved away from the state of nevada, according to major credit reporting bureaus. those people are shown on the register of voters, as having voted. donald trump is well within his right to question those results, to question why dead people are voting in these cities of las vegas and in reno nevada. i think we are headed for a long, legal slog and we are going to get into very nit—picking examinations of the voter rolls in this country, which have not improved since we went through this 20 years ago with bush against al gore. the american system has not improved in the way that it can adjudicate its elections. we have had some detailed explanations from voting officials in the various states still in play. is the

president really saying that there is fraud happening at scale in all of these places and places where, for the large part now, is behind in the vote when there has been no electoral fraud according to him the vote when there has been no electoralfraud according to him in other states he has one? it may very well be the case. it may be the story of 2020 that the president in his discouraging republican people to not to vote by mail may have lost the election. i think the president and his campaign team and his legal tea m and his campaign team and his legal team are within their right to ask why on tuesday night, election night he was ahead by significant margins in every state from florida to ohio, to michigan, to georgia, north carolina, to nevada... you havejust offered the explanation though. we explained it at the beginning of your answer because on the day

votes, the system means they are counted first, democrats, by and large have voted by post because it seems they have wanted more so to avoid standing in queues to vote on the day on tuesday. those ballots are counted later, so that ultimately explains why president trump appeared to be in the lead in so many places in the first instance, now joe so many places in the first instance, nowjoe biden is gaining and overtaking. is this ultimately about the president's personality, he simply cannot bear to be behind, to be losing? i think in states like wisconsin and michigan, you have to question 100% of batches of ballots would go tojoe biden, it is a statistical anomaly. i was an assistant secretary of state in the large state of america, the state of

california with a0 million voters. to have a 100% go to one candidate or another is highly unlikely, even ina or another is highly unlikely, even in a scenario in which the president would have been discouraging his party from voting in that way. there are tens of millions of republicans who have voted by post for the past 20 years and who continue to vote by post, so i do question those statistics. in terms of personality, ido statistics. in terms of personality, i do think donald trump's brashness may be does cost him a couple of points in the polls, particularly with suburban women. but this is about big issues, the selection was about big issues, the selection was about the future of america, whether we wa nt about the future of america, whether we want to continue forward as a free country over we will accept the squelching of free speech, the socialist proposals that have been put out there. and by and large, this is why i think president trump will still win at the end of the day, if you look at the board across the congressional races and the us

senate races, the congressional message was rebuked across the board and the republicans in the house picked up ten seats, abc up by the republican party... yet, joe biden has pulled more votes than any presidential candidate in the history of the us election. it doesn't really speak to his message, whatever you call it, whatever you wa nt to whatever you call it, whatever you want to label it socialist or not, it doesn't speak to his message being rejected. this question i put to another political commentator earlier, votes are still to be counted, but ifjoe biden is to win, do you think that donald trump has the vocabulary to say, i concede and the vocabulary to say, i concede and the ability to say, i concede in this situation? yes, short answer, yes i did. he has already addressed the fact he does not like to lose. he has said that. i do believe if he

can determine and his legal team is on the ground determining this as we speak, former mayor, rudy giugliano in his heading up his legal team, they will get to the bottom of this and they will determine which votes are legal and which votes have been cast. if at the end of the day, donald troup loses, i think he will say so. jennifer, we are out of time. —— donald trump. remembrance day services in the uk may have been cancelled this year — but the royal british legion is calling on the public to come together in other ways to honour those who have served in our armed forces. graham satchell reports. this was armistice day in bedworth in warwickshire last year. they've held a parade here since 1921 but this year, in lockdown, things will be different. we have produced 19,000 of these documents — these flyers — to put in people's windows, asking them to remember the fallen on armistice day at 11 o'clock along

with us on their doorstep. the ceremony in bedworth normally ends with thousands of poppies dropped from the sky over the war memorial. it is one tradition they're determined to maintain with a slight change. we're going to take the poppies to the people. we're going to direct it around the town — the perimeter of the town, so that people, on their doorsteps, will get the poppies, hopefully. the parade is coming to you, or the poppies are coming to you. can you see that all right? yes. how lovely! must be a very proud moment for you, betty. it was wonderful. this is 97—year—old betty webb getting her mbe. betty is a veteran of bletchley park. bletchley, home to the code breakers, credited with shortening the war, saving countless lives. betty has laid a wreath on armistice day for as long as she can remember

but not this year. sadly, of course, this year we don't quite know what we're going to do about marking the occasion. i just think it's very sad that we have got to bow to the fact that we mustn't congregate in big numbers. i can see that but it's still, for me, it's very sad. jim hooper was a glider pilot in world war ii. after d—day, he flew 30 men and equipment into holland and fought at the battle of arnhem, where he was taken prisoner. we had a lot of wounded, a lot killed. and that was it. and this german standing over me with a stick grenade and others surrendering as well and that was it. that was the end of my sojourn in parma and arnhem. and on remembrance sunday,

do you take a moment to remember your lost friends? yes. well, yes i do, actually. notjust on remembrance sunday. on many other occasions. and, yes, the names of many i still remember. in plymouth, nine—year—old maisie has transformed where she lives from bluebell street to poppy street. she's delivered posters to neighbours to put up in their windows and put poppies on all the lamp posts. i think we should be remembering the people who served us in the army because they risked their lives for us. maisie's dad james was medically discharged from the army in 2017. it's hard to describe the pride i have for her and the fact it's all come from her heart

is just truly amazing. the royal british legion is urging everyone to gather on their doorsteps at 11 o'clock on sunday morning, to come together as a nation, to remember. graham satchell, bbc news. a collection of vintage star wars and other sci fi toys left to a neighbour are reported to have sold at auction for £250,000. the elderly couple, from stourbridge in the uk had been unaware of the value of the bin bags full of plastic figures bequeathed to them by a neighbour. one of the items included a star wars vintage vinyl cape jawa figure, which sold for £22,000. the couple said it was their best sale ever — in 15 years — and also their last ever auction as they close their businesses which was impacted badly by the lockdown. what a surprise to find out they

we re what a surprise to find out they were worth quite so much. you're watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. it was a bit of a frosty and foggy start today across a good part of the country. fog slowly lifting to sunny spells for the vast majority as we go into this afternoon. one or two spots in the western isles could see some rain with some thicker cloud here. but elsewhere, cloud will come and go across parts of scotland, mayjust linger around some in the central belt. but some good sunny spells to the north—east, a brighter day compared with yesterday in northern ireland, long spells of sunshine for england and wales. windy conditions towards the south—west and the channel islands, could touch a0 miles an hour the wind, compared to just a light breeze elsewhere, which will be pushing its way from south to north taking the colder air we saw across the south yesterday into scotland and northern england, so no where near as warm here as it was for some of you. some saw 18 degrees during yesterday afternoon but many will be just

around ten or 11 degrees. into this evening and overnight mist and fog will return across eastern parts of wales, north—east england and the central belt of scotland. in the south it will be a milder night than last night but anything from the midlands northwards, a greater chance of some frost. dense fog across central scotland and eastern england will slowly lift and shift but for some the fog will be on the hills and expand into low cloud keeping things great to much of the day, east midlands and parts of southern england. sunshine to the southern england. sunshine to the south coast lifting temperatures to 16 or 17. showers in the south—west but a cool day further north. as we go into sa njay but a cool day further north. as we go into sanjay saturday night into sunday southerly winds lifting the temperatures. but whether france will bring some cloud and a bit of rain. a lot more cloud generally on sunday. some sunny breaks and it won't be completely grey for everyone. greater chance of staying grey with splashes of rain in the west. it will not rain all day long

anywhere. we should see some dry weather, some more than others but turning milder with temperatures more widely from around 12 to 16 degrees. that milder theme is there this weekend, most staying dry. rain later on sunday in western areas. with those weather fronts and low pressure still to the west as we go into the start of next week, there will be some showers around. it will come and go, some places will stay dry particularly the further east on the greatest chance of staying dry on tuesday and stay mild for the time of year.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 11: still no result in the us presidential election as democratjoe biden edges closer to the white house. the counting continues. in georgia it's down to the wire. joe biden takes a narrow lead, with around a thousand votes separating the two men. the democratic contender calls for calm and patience — he says he will win when counting is completed. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. donald trump has made more unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud, and launched legal action against some results. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.

from today, everyone living or working in liverpool will be offered coronavirus tests, whether or not they have symptoms, in the uk's first mass testing programme. businesses and employees digest the extension of the uk furlough scheme to the end of march and work out what it will mean for them. students at the university of manchester pull down metal barriers on the first day of england's new lockdown as hundreds of students, who said they were not warned about the measure, protest. good morning. welcome to bbc news. joe biden is closing in on the white house

with just a handful of states still counting votes. president trump has repeated his assertion that he has won tuesday's us election, and accused his opponents of trying to steal it through voter fraud. currentlyjoe biden is projected to have 253 electoral college votes, and donald trump 21a. 270 votes are needed to win the white house. in georgia, joe biden has pulled ahead with 99% of the votes counted. if biden takes georgia, there is no pathway for donald trump to achieve the required 270 electoral college to secure the presidency. there are fewer than a thousand votes between the two men. both candidates are on a9.a% of the vote. georgia is worth 16 electoral college votes. the key remaining states along with georgia are nevada, pennsylvania, north carolina and arizona. joe biden increased his lead by winning the ten electoral college votes in wisconsin. mr trump has said the legal action

he was taking in the most closely contested states was to protect the integrity of the election, but he gave no evidence to back up his allegations. ben wright has this report. he didn't sound like a president confident of victory. instead, donald trump appeared in the white house to denigrate america's electoral process and make a slew of unfounded claims about voting and fraud. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. we think there is going to be a lot of litigation, as we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it's going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land. with his chances of re—election appearing to recede by the hour, the president made a wholly false distinction between votes cast in person on the day and votes cast by mail. both are legal and both are still being counted. some in the president's own party spoke out. on twitter, the republican governor

of maryland, larry hogan, said there was no defence for the president's comments, undermining the democratic process. there is no evidence of postal voting fraud and, in georgia, a state donald trump must win to have a chance of taking the white house, his early lead has been shrinking fast as mail—in ballots a re processed. in pennsylvania, a state with 20 electoral college votes, donald trump's election night lead has been eroded, too. the trump campaign has filed a lawsuit to press for closer scrutiny of the ballot—counting process but the state's top election official has strongly defended the count. the strength of the integrity of this vote is really unparalleled. same when you vote in person, right, you have to be registered, you go in, you sign in the poll book. all these things are tracked. good afternoon, folks. joe biden's tone and tactics could not be more different to the president he is now confident of replacing. we have no doubt, when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners.

so i ask everyone to stay calm, all the people to stay calm. while there are still votes to count, ajoe biden presidency is not a certainty and his slim lead over donald trump in arizona narrowed during thursday. donald trump does not want to be a one—term president and he is willing to rubbish america's democratic reputation to try and hold on. but it is the states in charge of counting the votes and that process continues, no matter what mr trump says. joe biden has said he will try to unite this divided country if he wins the election. if donald trump is on his way out of the white house, he hasn't made that task any easier. ben wright, bbc news, washington. we have just had an update from the count that is still under way in georgia. we now are told thatjoe biden leads in that election contest

by1096 biden leads in that election contest by 1096 votes. george immensely important of course, because whoever ta kes important of course, because whoever takes that state can rely upon 16 electoral college votes. we can speak to our washington correspondent will grant. many people crunching the numbers, and george critical here? yes, it is getting exciting, isn't it? it is absolutely critical, because certainly forjoe biden, it is one ofa certainly forjoe biden, it is one of a variety of paths that he now appears to have to the white house. president trump, it cuts off really any route if he can't hold onto georgia, it makes life almost impossible for him. it's a key place, a vital battleground, and as you said, the actual number of votes being counted at this stage is

relatively few, 2500 in a clayton county, and they are constantly skewing towards democrats. so it is certainly looking constantly better for the biden camp than the trump camp. and the trump camp has fewer pathways to the white house than the biden camp, has got to take more states, and pennsylvania is critical to trump? that's right, so as and when there is a decision in georgia, and that might take some time because the margin of victory could because the margin of victory could be below half of 1%, which means that either side have the opportunity to call for a recount, and we can be very sure that donald trump will do that. but once that is clear, what's going on there, all eyes a re clear, what's going on there, all eyes are already turning to other vital states. pennsylvania, we might get a clear idea of what is happening there. again, it is looking much better for happening there. again, it is looking much betterforjoe biden,

who was moving in the right direction, eating into donald trump's very small lead. so with a number of votes still left account, it does all seem to favourjoe biden at this stage. we have known for weeks that president trump was looking to the courts if things didn't go his way. he is making these claims about voter fraud, but where is his evidence? there is none at this stage. there are very unsubstantiated claims being made from the podium in the white house, something that has caused great dismay among observers, certainly biden voters and tv networks in the us pulled away from donald trump as he was making these claims. there isn't, as yet, evidence. his legal tea m isn't, as yet, evidence. his legal team will say they have evidence. they are going to produce something, one would think, but absolutely the legal channel looks like how he is

going to tackle all of these states where he is not currently in the lead or where his lead is diminishing to the point that it looks like his challenge will in due course move into the lead, because the districts that are left stilt account are all skewing either heavily democrat, or the postal votes, because there was such a push by the democrats for postal votes, also skewed heavily democrat. whatever the result, and whether there is legal action or not, the united states will remain a divided nation for the next president to preside over? absolutely. this isn't going to end either in the next sort of 2a hours once we get a clear picture ifjoe biden gets over the 270 electoral college votes mark, or really with the legal challenges. i think this will be something that if president trump loses the white house, will rumble on with his core

supporters for some time. the legal process , supporters for some time. the legal process, as we know, can take weeks. we saw that in 2000, and it can be very bitterly divided. this is a country that is already divided over questions of race relations, a whole slew of things at the moment, so this is not going to help heal, but of course joe this is not going to help heal, but of coursejoe biden, if he goes on to become the president, has said he would be president for those who didn't vote for him too, so that will be a challenge for whoever ta kes will be a challenge for whoever takes the presidency, but at this stage, it looks more favourable for them biden camp. thank you, will grant. tia mitchell is a correspondent with the atlanta journal—constitution newspaper, explained what the mood was like

amongst voters in georgia. joe biden's supporters are up watching the results, celebrating a little bit now that joe biden is ahead. i think donald trump's supporters by and large are willing to be patient and allow every vote to be counted. there was a relatively small protest of about 100 people in atlanta today of trump supporters who were kind of peddling some of the misinformation that the president and his supporters had been saying about there being fraud and the vote being stolen. that is unfounded and again that was a relatively small protest. for the most part, georgians want the counting to continue because they know that's part of a fair election process. tia mitchell, corresponding with the atlanta journal—constitution newspaper. we can speak now to leslie vinjamuri, who's the director of us and the americas programme at chatham house. good to see you, thank you very much for joining good to see you, thank you very much forjoining us. how strong are the cases that donald trump says he is going to take to court? so far, not very, and that is why we are seeing

any number of people, including people like forli former newjersey governor chris christie who has been a strong supporter of president trump saying we need to see some support behind the claims, that is a strong accusation. but the president has been laying foundations for the allegations he is now making for many months, he has been saying that mail—in ballots are fraudulent, that they will be attacks on the integrity of the elections. we have seen integrity of the elections. we have seen this coming, we knew it would be coming, america has been tremendously well—prepared for this election given how extraordinarily difficult it is to conduct. and if you listen to state by state by state, those people actually counting the ballots, it is truly remarkable the effort that they are putting in, the integrity that we're seeing, and really by and large

stories are very, good stories. the votes are being counted, they are being taken seriously. there is no rush to finish because it is so important, seem to be so important by the majority of those involved that the votes are counted fairly and that we get a result from this election that reflects what the american voters, and by the way, more than 1a6 million votes have already been counted, that's a higher percentage of the american electorate than has ever turned out since 1900. so the president's attem pts since 1900. so the president's atte m pts to since 1900. so the president's attempts to make false allegations, to launch any number of legal challenges, to be very honest, he is ina challenges, to be very honest, he is in a minority, are very vocal minority but a minority. so what are the legal measures that he is using? he is in some cases calling for a recount, remember that in wisconsin where biden won by 20,000 votes, so

president trump called for a recount. it is very unlikely to amount to anything, the numbers are too high and recounts don't tend to produce very different results, and certainly not by that margin. in michigan he is trying to stop the counting, and that is virtually unheard of, and unlikely to go anywhere. georgia, as we know, either candidate could call for a recount, because the margins are slim, so in some cases this is entirely legitimate. in pennsylvania, the trump campaign has been pushing to have some of its observers watch the counting. they have been granted that, and so there will be people from trump campaign standing at a distance. remember this is a pandemic election. yesterday 1100 americans died, so this is an extraordinary time to be conducting an election, but trump will have some of his people in the

election counting offices in pennsylvania observing to ensure that they are confident the process is fair, so that has been allowed. and there will be any number of other legal challenges. the president, as we saw last night, is ona president, as we saw last night, is on a mission, and remember the major networks cut away from the president's speech. nbc, cbs and abc cut away from the speech because the allegations were unsubstantiated. the media is under pressure now. how do you cover a president who has crossed a fundamental line? these are crossed a fundamental line? these a re really crossed a fundamental line? these are really important questions that have got to be addressed, frankly now and going forward to the next few days. we heard about steve bannon's speech that facebook took down only after a5a,000 people had listened to it. i won't repeat what was said, it doesn't deserve airtime, but these are very dangerous allegations, very dangerous allegations, very dangerous messages, and the media has got to be careful. some networks

are trying to fact check what the president is saying in real time, but of course that is very difficult to keep up with. so what is the process , to keep up with. so what is the process, if and when he mounts legal challenges? you start at state level with your eye on the supreme court? that's right. i think many of them will be frankly thrown out because there simply won't be the basis for a legal challenge. if there is anything that is serious enough to go to the supreme court, then that is possible. to be very honest, i think at the moment it is extremely unlikely. and the president is really undercutting his case, because he has made statements where he and his team have said, look, the supreme court, we have appointed three of thejudges, supreme court, we have appointed three of the judges, we are going to send it to our court. anybody who has been given a lifetime appointment on the supreme court understands the importance of the integrity of the court regardless of their personal politics. the last

thing that they want to be seen to be doing is being partisan on a decision that would have that level of consequence for the united states. it is just simply not going to happen. this is an election that all evidence at the moment very strongly suggest is being conducted freely and fairly at a time of extraordinary upheaval. it is complicated to deliver, and it is remarkable how well it is being delivered. it feels like light years ago, this week has been a long week, that president trump was asking, demanding, that the counting stopped in some states. how can anyone get that to happen? 0n in some states. how can anyone get that to happen? on what basis would it happen? to be very honest, there isn't a basis to stop the counting. there is one instance where there is a concern, that a certain segment of

votes have not been separated, and thatis votes have not been separated, and that is pennsylvania. a certain number of votes that came in past the deadline have not been separated, they were being held to see how close that state is, so there is one instance where i could see a legitimate challenge potentially coming before a court, depending on what the margin is in pennsylvania. the phenomenal woman spoke last night about this, the person in charge, she spoke to all of these issues very, very articulately, honestly, clearly. but really the vast majority of these charges are just unlikely to go forward. it is very difficult for president trump. there have only been three presidents in the history of the united states that have not been re—elected. the power of the incumbency is impossible to overstate, and this is a president thatis overstate, and this is a president that is looking at an election that is simply not heading in the direction that he would like it to head. that is a tough message for

anybody. but democracy is about accepting the result of free and fair elections, and if the president can't do that, unfortunately it is a difficult message, but that is what we are going to see in the hours and days ahead, and i'm sure that america will make sure that democracy works. no one is across the line yet. we are still waiting for that final result. but how does anybody govern the united states with the conditions we are facing at the moment? coronavirus, the worries about the economy, and the incredible, deep divisions politically? you are not wrong. there are plenty of divisions. but i think if you have been to the united states lately, if you live the life, if you travel the country, most of what is happening is normal in the context of an extraordinarily complicated and difficult health and

economic situation, which is not unlike frankly what the united kingdom is going through right now. there has been mismanagement at the federal level coming from the president. state—level management has in very case has been very strong, —— in many cases been very strong. america is divided but democracy is about division. it is how you resolve conflict for institutional mechanisms that are very deep. there are plenty of mechanisms in place for taking things forward peacefully, and vice president biden, if elected, has a deep and long record of working across the aisle, of building coalitions and building bridges, and he has thousands of people around him who have that same attitude, so it is difficult, tough work, and there are plenty of people that really, really want to be on the right side of the future of america's democracy. leslie

vinjamuri from chatham house, good to have you with us today, thank you very much. in pennsylvania, the numbers are very tight. donald trump looks ahead with a9.5 percent of the vote withjoe biden on a9.2 percent. 96 percent of the votes have been counted in the state, which is worth 20 electoral college votes — if president trump is to be reelected, pennsylvania will be key. let's have a look at some of the other states that are still counting. in arizona, joe biden is leading. he has 50.1% of the vote. donald trump has a8.5%. 91% of the votes have been counted in the state, which is worth 11 electoral college votes. in nevada, joe biden is leading with a9.a% of the vote. trump has a8.5%. 89% of the votes have been counted in the state. it's only worth six electoral college votes, but in many ofjoe biden's projected routes to the white house, nevada is the state which tips him over to victory.

in north carolina, trump leads with 50%. biden is on a8.6%, with 96% of the votes counted so far. the state is worth 15 electoral college votes. there will be a test later, i hope you were paying attention! students at the university of manchester have torn down security fencing that was put up around parts of the campus accomodation on day one of england's lockdown. the university has since apologised and says all the barriers, which were put up without any warning to the residents, will be removed this morning. andy moore reports. the moment when students tore down what they called a wall. the erection of the barriers had generated enormous anger, with crowds of students marching through the fallowfield campus. the university said the fences were meant as a security measure to help avoid what it called the mixing of households. but construction started before

residents were informed. students saw them as yet another infringement of their liberty. we have no access to communal spaces and now they are locking us up. they are locking us up from our green spaces, they are locking us up from seeing people in other halls. it is not our fault. it is not our fault! cheering. manchester university's vice chancellor has now apologised for the concern and distress caused by the fence. professor dame nancy rothwell said it was never their intention to stop students entering or leaving the site. dismantling of the barrier will start this morning. the university says it will be replaced by extra security patrols. andy moore, bbc news. the uk's first mass testing programme gets under way in liverpool city today. hundreds of thousands of people living or working there will be able to access repeat coronavirus tests — and the new centres are for people who are without symptoms. if successful, the government says pilots could be rolled out to millions by christmas. 0ur correspondent dan johnson has

been in the city this morning. we have just seen a coachload of soldiers turn up here at this sports centre in liverpool. they are about to start setting up what will be one of the first test centres to roll out this programme of mass testing. i would just show you around, this is the sports centre car park, that will be a drive—through area where the traditional swab test will be available. that is the sort of test that normally gives a result within 2a hours. they are hoping to have those back on the same day for people. and then the tennis centre here will become a walk—in centre where people can go and get the really quick result, rapid test, thatis really quick result, rapid test, that is the flow test which is supposed to give a result potentially within 20 minutes or half an hour, and the idea is that people across this city will be able to come and get tested whenever they want. it is entirely voluntary, not mandatory, but whenever they want to test they will be able to come and get one, either by ringing up or just turning up at one of the sites

like this. available to all ages, all occupations and regardless of symptoms. and that is a pilot project that will run for ten days or two weeks to establish the logistics necessary to make this work and see if it is actually effective in identifying exactly how many people are carrying the virus and then whether it is effective in isolating enough people to get the numbers down, because liverpool has had some of the highest case numbers in the country, and the pressure on hospitals here has been particularly intense. that's why this city has been chosen. there have been some questions about the efficiency, the effectiveness, of some of those tests, but the local authorities here are saying that they are reliable, they are useful, and that liverpool is not being used as a test site or a guinea pig city as some people have said, but that this is the most effective way to identify exactly who has got the virus and then make sure they can isolate to get the case numbers down here. danjohnson here. dan johnson in here.

danjohnson in liverpool. denmark is to be removed from the travel corridor list immediately. it means people arriving back from the country will be required to self—isolate for 1a days. denmark has announced its own strict lockdown rules after health authorities reported widespread coronavirus outbreaks in mink farms. the prime minister said the country would cull all of its mink — as many as 17 million. we heard yesterday the furlough scheme will be extended till the end of march, and will continue to cover the wages of workers who are unable to do theirjob because of coronavirus restrictions. chancellor rishi sunak has also extended help for the self—employed. our business correspondent, katie prescott reports. at the start of the first lockdown, the word "furlough" suddenly became very familiar. the aim of the scheme was simple, a grant to pay 80% of the wages of those who couldn't work because of coronavirus restrictions. since its start, over 9 million people have been supported by it. but as restrictions eased, the scheme was being wound down, due to end on the 31st of october.

a less generous replacement was planned. but last saturday, borisjohnson announced a new four—week lockdown in england, with businesses across the country told to close their doors. and, at the same time, he announced a month—long extension of the furlough scheme across the uk, broadly similar to the original. but the chancellor has now said the scheme will run until the end of march — a huge relief to many businesses and their staff. the extension of the furlough scheme is undoubtedly positive. my team will have some income for that period of time. the problem is that there may not be a business that is as strong at the end of it because we will have a heavily—reduced income. we would typically be bringing in 80% of our profit for the year during november and december and i was counting on that for our recovery. there was also an extension of the scheme designed to help the self—employed and to business loan programmes. but about 3 million people are still falling through the cracks

of government help. being ineligible for the grants has made me primarily very angry and very disheartened. we put money aside for many years to cover ourselves for this kind of situation in terms of maybe a small window of time that we don't have work, but we could never have seen something like this happening with no idea as to when we are going to be able to work again and when the money is going to run out. the chancellor's measures have been criticised for coming too late in the day for many businesses who had already decided to let people go. in response, the government says, "anyone made redundant after the 23rd of september can be rehired and put back on furlough." at a cost of more than £50 billion so far, it's hugely expensive but the government feels it is better than the human cost of mass unemployment. katie prescott, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor.

hello. there has been lingering fog for one or two but for most this afternoon the will be sunny spells. cloud at times across scotland, thick towards the western isles. patchy rain but most will be dry. more sunshine across northern ireland. blue skies for many across england and wales were quite a breeze blowing towards the south—west. lighter winds elsewhere and feeling cool. cool across eastern scotland and north—east england compared with yesterday. mist and fog return and fog develops widely toward south—west england, the south and south—east wales. milder night tonight, anywhere from the midlands northwards you could see frost into tomorrow morning. fog through central belt tomorrow which will slowly be shifting. fog on the hills will expand more widely into low cloud over eastern wales and the midlands. few showers towards the

south—west but turning milder. hello this is bbc news. the headlines... still no result in the us presidential election as democratjoe biden edges closer to the white house. the counting continues — in georgia, it's down to the wire. joe biden takes a narrow lead with 1,096 votes separating the men. the democratic contender calls for calm and patience — he says he has no doubt he will be declared the winner when counting is completed. donald trump has made more unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud and launched legal action against some results. from today, everyone living or working in liverpool will be offered coronavirus tests, whether or not they have symptoms — in the uk's first mass testing programme. businesses and employees digest the extension of the uk furlough scheme to the end of march and work out what it will mean for them.

sport, and a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. lots of british interest in the europa league last night. neil lennon says that his celtic players' lack of hunger and application was unacceptable. they lost a—1 at home to sparta prague. the scottish champions were torn apart, leaving them bottom of their group with their hopes of qualificaton all but gone. that's three home defeats in a row for celtic — that hasn't happened for 30 years. lennon says he needs to address the culture in the team. this might have cheered celtic fans up a little bit — rangers blew a two—goal lead as ten—man benfica scored an injury—time equaliser. it finished 3—all in lisbon, but rangers stay top of their group. tottenham are back in contention in their group, after a landmark

night for harry kane — his 200th spurs goal on his 300th appearance for the club. they won 3—1 against ludogorets in bulgaria. a big improvement on last week's defeat against antwerp. we didn't need to play very, very well to win the game. we did ourjob, we played serious, we took it serious. we played with great attacking force, starting with harry kane, so he took the game very serious. ludogorets is not a weak team. we are better than them, and we showed this. arsenal came from behind to beat norwegian side molde. nicolas pepe was among the scorers in a a—1 win to maintain their 100% record in europe this season. and molde didn't help themselves, either, scoring two own goals. leicester also have three wins from three in their group, with a a—0 win at home to sporting braga of portugal.

kelechi iaenacho scored twice. there's another international break coming up next week. england have three matches coming up, nations league games against belgium and iceland but before those, they have a friendly against the republic of ireland. everybody against the republic of ireland. has recognised the opportunity everybody has recognised the opportunity to provide entertainment for people, to show some signs that something close to normality can ta ke something close to normality can take place to give hope to people, really. for me, when we talk about international friendlies, really. for me, when we talk about internationalfriendlies, other sports call them test matches. that's what they are, really, because for the players that play them, they are a massive moment for them, they are a massive moment for them and their families, them, they are a massive moment for them and theirfamilies, and for us they are a good opportunity to learn and improve. some football fans in scotland will be allowed back into matches from this evening.

clubs located in tier! areas can allow up to 300 supporters. that will include ross county's premiership match against livingston tonight. it's too early to have any sort of real significance financially but what it does is give everybody a bit of hope and something to hang on to regarding getting back out and watching football. we obviously have a small band of loyal supporters here in the highlands and what we wa nt to here in the highlands and what we want to do is give them value for money in their season ticket and the money in their season ticket and the money they have put into the football club. the only way we can do that is by letting them watch live football. thankfully, we have an opportunity to do that. olympic champion adam peaty says that a "generation" of athletes may be lost, because of leisure facilities closing during the latest lockdown in england. swimming pools are among the facilities which have been closed, with culture secretary 0liver dowden, commenting yesterday that the aim is for grassroots sport to return as soon as possible. peaty says any closures are damaging. without a month of leisure activities, gym activities,

people have to train outdoors, so it's looking very bleak. and my only worry is that we're going to have a year of this or a few months of this and we're going to lose a generation of athletes because, you know, it's hard on us at the top of the level who get paid for it, but what's keeping them in place to keep going in their sport and look at the olympics and say, "i want to do that"? mark allen has called ronnie 0'sullivan a "bully" after the pair had an argument during their champion of champions quarter—final. 0'sullivan complained that allen was distracting him by moving in his eyeline while he was at the table. it went on for some time with the players ignoring the referee's plea to continue with the match. allen eventually won to set up a semi—final againstjudd trump tomorrow. 0'sullivan said afterwards that there were no hard feelings. let's just return to the europa league — villareal are top

of their group after beating maccabi tel aviv, but it's a miracle that the game went ahead. this was the state of the pitch in spainjust an hour before kick—off — the start was delayed but the match did take place with the villareal winning a—nil. the team are quite aptly named the yellow submarines. i could bore you with how the ground for the first club in spain to get a semisynthetic surface. sorry, i dropped off! nude his microphone. strange to think there is sport going on, isn't it? —— mute his mic.

joe biden is inching closer to the us presidency, securing a narrow lead over donald trump in one of the few remaining states still counting ballots. let's get the latest now from stephen fowler, political reporter for georgia public broadcasting. how is it being received from the people of georgia that their estate is so critical to the selection? georgia has known for a long time that it was going to be the centre of the political universe, not only because of the electoral college votes, but because we have the senate seats on the ballot, which will decide control of that chamber. it is 630 in the morning here at local time so i don't think very many people have yet woken up to the news of the votes being in jail by den's favour now with still more to come, but democrat and republican have long known about the importance of this state because it really is a

microcosm of american politics right now. “— microcosm of american politics right now. —— joe biden. microcosm of american politics right now. -- joe biden. still votes to be counted. which votes haven't been looked at? the decisive votes which are switched things intojoe biden's favourite team from clayton county which is a heavily democratic county. there are also the most diverse counties in georgia, and a few other ballots elsewhere that will favour democrats, so the margin is predicted to get bigger. there are other ballots, we don't know how many, to come in today. they are provisional ballots, military and overseas ballots and pallets that have problems that have to be cured for things like missing signatures. there is still more to come and it is very, very close. how much

pressure do those counting the votes feel that they are under? after all, it is accuracy rather than speed that people want to see, i am sure. it isa that people want to see, i am sure. it is a lot of pressure. election workers in these counties have been working around the clock for weeks before the election to get ready for early voting and absentee ballots. we have seen people work into night. these votes came in at a:30am local time for clayton county after they had been working for about 12 hours to process them, so there is a lot of pressure to get things right. there is a lot of pressure to do things accurately and fairly and, ultimately, with the result being so close, everyone is under intense stress and pressure. what has the impact being of the coronavirus pandemic in georgia in this election in terms of how people have voted and the numbers who have turned out? that's right, georgia has a

record—setting turnout in this election, it is approaching... for a million of those votes were cast before election days. you had a record number of people request and return and absentee by mail ballot. there was in—person early voting, and you saw this unprecedented shift in the way people vote to do things that are earlier and a little bit safer because of the pandemic, and that led to shorter lines on election day and a much quicker account than if things had gone differently. it is difficult for you to comment on the entire public of georgia, but what is the general reaction of donald trump's claims that this election has been corrupt? you know, his claim is full because he said that democrats were responsible, but georgia has a republican governor, a republican chief election official. most of

georgia's 159 chief election official. most of georgia's159 counties are republican counties with republican local officials, so this is not grounded in reality. there are plenty of people here who are going to be disappointed that donald trump loses if he does lose, but our republican elected official has really ensured that people should trust the process, and that is something that you will find in these coming days, it is that the process will be trusted even if the outcome is not what people desired. thank you very much for talking to us. the uk's first mass testing programme gets under way in liverpool city today. hundreds of thousands of people living or working there will be able to access repeat coronavirus tests, whether they're showing symptoms or not. if successful, the government say pilots could be rolled out to millions by christmas.

gabe morris is a student at the university of liverpool. welcome to bbc news. how keen are you to sign up for these regular tests ? you to sign up for these regular tests? i am very keen for it and looking forward to getting regular testing. it feels like we're getting towards the end of it now. how many people, i know you can't mix with many people and you are somewhat confined to barracks, but how many people are you speaking to a liverpool who feel similarly? people i have spoken to about this have all been mostly positive apart from one or two people. but i have heard of people who are very against it because they are feeling like liverpool is yet again a guinea pig for this mask testing. what is the point of everybody or a sizeable number of people in the city don't ta ke number of people in the city don't take part? you won't get an accurate picture and it went really help. that is a concern of mine, to be honest, because it could essentially

fail, but surely it is worth giving ita fail, but surely it is worth giving it a try? hopefully, everyone should go and get tested in liverpool and it is the only way for it to succeed. it is the people in liverpool's fault if they don't turn up, really, isn't it? how easy is it to access this? where do you go to and how regularly can you access them? it has been quite vague from them? it has been quite vague from the liverpool council up until last night. i had a look yesterday evening and they said it is still to be confirmed. i had a look before i came on to speak to you this morning, and there are a few different places. you can go to a drive in the centre. i can walk to one of the centres. but it is still a little bit confusing. it is not the easiest thing to understand, but for me, i think it is easy because i can drive, so i have a large option of places i can go to. what might it mean for you, then, of places i can go to. what might it

meanforyou, then, if of places i can go to. what might it mean for you, then, if you can have these tests for the next few weeks? iama these tests for the next few weeks? i am a university student, so i am here to study but i am also here to have a social experience and part of university life. if there is the opportunity that this testing works andi opportunity that this testing works and i can start to go back into more ofa and i can start to go back into more of a social lifestyle, then that means that hopefully, my university lifestyle will be back on track. best of luck with it, and you might even get home for christmas.|j best of luck with it, and you might even get home for christmas. i hope so. even get home for christmas. i hope so. thank you. the headlines on bbc news... still no result in the us presidential election as democratjoe biden edges closer to the white house, taking a narrow lead in georgia, from today, everyone living or working in liverpool will be offered coronavirus tests, whether or not they have symptoms — in the uk's first mass testing programme. businesses and employees digest the extension of the uk furlough scheme to the end of march — and work out what it will mean for them.

more people have experienced a mental health crisis during the coronavirus pandemic than ever previously recorded, according to mental health charity mind. the organisation is also warning that mental health could be a bigger issue in the second lockdown than it was in the first, and are calling on the government to urgently invest in support services. with me is paul farmer — chief executive of mental health charity mind. also i'm joined byjessie collins who was hospitalised after contracting coronavirus while working as a nurse. she had no previous experience of mental health problems, but her mental health worsened as a result of the pandemic. what was it about your experience of coronavirus that affected your mental health and how did it affect it? i think it wasjust mental health and how did it affect

it? i think it was just the mental health and how did it affect it? i think it wasjust the general worries surrounding living in the midst of a pandemic and then, obviously, i was doing my third year of my student nursing degree, so i was having to go and work on the words and complete a lot of uni work alongside home—schooling the kids andi alongside home—schooling the kids and i think everyone was under a lot of pressure and everyone was living with that fear that not only were they going to get poorly themselves, but working on the front line, there is the worry of bringing it home to your loved ones as well. i think it was all of that put together. and many people probably will be nodding in sympathy with what you have just said. what are your callers saying to those who are answering those calls for mind, because we have seen a massive increase in people needing help? we have seen calls to our information services and many other

mental health charities are experiencing a similar trend in terms of calls. what we are hearing from people is, what we heard from jesse, a real concern about the impact of coronavirus on all our lives, and we are able to provide a listening ears, signposting to information and also tips and hints on how to look after your mental health. and particularly for people in crisis, able to refer them to access to mental health services. why does mind believe that this second lockdown could be even worse? i think there is a number of reasons. i think festival, we know that mental health services are extremely stretched. we are seeing the impact of the first lockdown, but that impact has taken time to reveal itself, so we know mental health services are under extreme pressure. there needs to be further resource added to enable mental health services to cope with that. i

think for all of us, there are elements of this lockdown that are going to be harder. we know that people are worried about their finances, but we also know that the nature of this lockdown in the november means that a lot of things that people did in the summer will be harder. there is the sense that for the public's mental health, our resilience has been really tried and tested during this period, so where we do have particular worries or concerns, those are more highlighted and accentuated for us, so it is really important that we reach out for help. what sort of help did you access ? for help. what sort of help did you a ccess ? h ow for help. what sort of help did you access? how easy or difficult was it to come by? for me personally, it took a while to get into the mindset where i admitted that i needed that support and to be open about talking about it, and i think when we live in the kind of society that we do, where there is still a kind of stigma attached to having a mental health issue, it definitely makes it

harder. 0nce health issue, it definitely makes it harder. once i got myself into that mindset, ifind it easier to get harder. once i got myself into that mindset, i find it easier to get the support i needed. mind was the mental health charity that i assessed turned to, and they were really helpful. i used the information line. talking to a stranger and able to be completely open and honest about how i was feeling, that was a huge step for me. from there, using the techniques that they recommend, doing meditation reading, blobs from other people that are experiencing a same thing. it was getting into that realisation i wasn't alone. —— blogs. there are many people now heading into the second wave of where we are, they will be going through the same thing. it is so important that we do talk about and it is vital that the government are investing money into things like this because it is more needed now than ever. paul nodding vigorously

there. including by using digital and face to face appointments, places are establishing urgent mental health helplines and investing more money in services for mental health by 2023 or 202a. in services for mental health by 2023 or 2024. how adequate is that's these investments are really important and reflective of a long—term commitment from government over a variety of use to prioritise mental health. where we are at the moment is that there is an increase in the numberof moment is that there is an increase in the number of people experiencing mental health problems, so that resource was really put in place, it is hugely important and needs to be fully invested, but that resource was there to catch up on what we knew were existing shortfalls within

mental health services. there is a need now for additional both short and long—term investment to make sure that people can get the help that they need. for example, we know that they need. for example, we know that young people's mental health has worsened during this pandemic period and bow needs to be additional investment to support young people's mental health and student's mental health to cope with what you like is a mental health surge as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. the government commitment is good, but it needs to go further because of this very specific growth and need. finally, as we are in england, just in the second day of this new lockdown, what is your advice to other people and what worked for you to try and centre yourself and cope when your mind is racing and telling you things that are really not helpful to your own health? i think i would say to reach out to people. i think often that is the hardest thing to

do. especially for someone like me, diameter there are many others out there who have never experienced any mental health problems before. reach out, get that support, utilised people that are there like those from mind because they are there for you and will direct you in signpost you and will direct you in signpost you to all of these different things that you are probably not aware are there. ijust think that you are probably not aware are there. i just think talk. that you are probably not aware are there. ijust think talk. i think thatis there. ijust think talk. i think that is the main thing to do, just talk. thank you both forjoining us today. a covid testing app promoted by zara tindall, the queen's granddaughter, has been referred to the medical regulator because of concerns that the way it has been marketed may contradict government guidance. the v—health passport is supposed to help fans get back to sporting events. our special correspondent lucy manning reports.

it has high—level endorsements. hi, i'm zara tindall. an 0lympian who happens to be the queen's granddaughter. hi, i'm mike tindall. and her husband, a former england rugby player. it is an app launched to try to get covid—free spectators back watching sporting events. the fans can see and have the confidence to come back to the sport. but it has been reported to the medicines regulator and this is why. zara tindall takes an antibody test and, a few minutes later, is told she is infection free. as you can see, you are clearly negative covid—19, covid infection. good news for you as well, mike, you are in the same situation, so it is just a valid test with no presence of covid—19. it would have been really awkward for you if one of us had had it and the other didn't. but antibody tests cannot tell if someone currently has covid, only possibly if they've had it in the past. there is a push to get fans back, but this is false information, claims the professor who put in the complaint.

they take their masks off when they are told they do not have covid. we will all be thinking that we are safe at that point. so if people use these tests, they get a negative result and then they go and think that they have not got covid when they still could be infectious. that might mean that people don't social distance and so on. and that might increase the risk of actually spreading covid. antibody tests take blood and can potentially show people if they've had coronavirus previously. but the company says its antibody test is different in that it can show people if they have covid three to four days after they've got the infection. but that could still miss those at the start of the disease. the company, vst enterprises, said the test chamber is illustrative. it said, "in this particular instance, the v—health passport was demonstrating how a rapid covid test kit could be used.

zara tindall is not the queen's only grandchild involved with covid tests. peter philips' firm is much clearer that antibody tests should not be used to diagnose covid. but there is still doubt as to how useful they are at the moment. the vast majority of antibody test for covid antibodies are not there yet. there are lots of good developments coming down, but they are not there yet. so you have to be very careful with these. v—health passport could be a game changer for fans getting back to watching the sports they love. testing companies are trying to help the desire for life to resume, but there needs to be balance, with the public being sure the tests do as they say. lucy manning, bbc news. a collection of vintage star wars and other sci fi toys left to a neighbour are reported to have sold at auction for £250,000.

the elderly couple, from stourbridge in the uk had been unaware of the value of the bin bags full of plastic figures bequeathed to them by a neighbour. one of the items included a star wars vintage vinyl cape jawa figure, which sold for twenty two thousand pounds. the couple said it was their best sale ever — in 15 years — and also their last ever auction as they close their businesses which was impacted badly by the lockdown. do be careful of what you put in a bin bag. time for the weather. hello. it was a bit of a frosty and foggy start today across a good part of the country. fog slowly lifting to sunny spells for the vast majority as we go into this afternoon. one or two spots in the western isles could see some rain,

with some thicker cloud here. but elsewhere, cloud will come and go across parts of scotland. it may just linger around some in the central belt. but actually, some good sunny spells through the north—east. a brighter day compared with yesterday in northern ireland. long spells of sunshine for england and wales. windy conditions, though, towards the south—west and the channel islands. could touch a0 miles an hour at times, the winds, compared to just a light breeze elsewhere, which will be pushing its way from south to north, taking the colder air we saw across the south yesterday into scotland and northern england. so nowhere near as warm here as it was for some of you. some saw 18 degrees during yesterday afternoon. many, though, just around 10 or 11 degrees. into this evening and overnight, mist and fog will return across some in the south and eastern parts of wales, north—east england, and the central belt of scotland. in the south, though, it will be a milder night than last night, but anywhere really for the midlands northwards, a greater chance for some frost around. the dense fog across central scotland and north—east england will slowly lift and shift. but where we have the fog across the south, for some, it will only be on the hills, but it willjust expand into an area of low cloud, keeping things grey through much of the day — east wales, the midlands, parts of southern england.

some sunshine comes out, though, to the south coast, lifting temperatures to 16 or 17. one or two showers in the far south—west and a rather cool day further north, even with the sunshine out. then, as we go through into sunday, saturday night and sunday, an area of low pressure revolving to the south—west of us, bringing up southerly winds more widely. that will lift the temperatures, but you can see weather fronts there, they're going to bring some cloud and outbreaks of rain. a lot more cloud around generally on sunday. some sunny breaks, though, it won't be completely grey for everyone. greatest chance of staying grey with some splashes of rain will be in the west, but they will be on the move northwards. so it is not going to rain all day long, i don't think, anyway. so we should all see some dry weather, some more than others. but turning milder, with temperatures more widely from around 12 to 16 degrees. that milder theme is there this weekend. most staying dry. as you saw, though, little bit of rain later on sunday in western areas. and with those weather fronts and the low pressure still to the west of us as we go into the start of next week, there is still going to be some showers around as well. it is going to come and go. some places will stay dry, particularly the further east you are, and a greater chance of staying dry on tuesday and

hello, i'm jane 0'brien in washington. still no result in the us presidential election — butjoe biden is edging closer to the white house. the counting carries on — in the crucial state of georgia it's down to the wire asjoe biden takes the lead. we'll be live in the state to get the latest. the democratic party candidate has called for calm and patience — he says the process is working properly and is confident he's done enough to win. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. as the us waits for results from a handful of states — donald trump makes accusations of electoral fraud but offers no evidence.

if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. meanwhile, his supporters protest on the streets as millions of dollars are raised to mount legal challenges in a number of states. hello and welcome. joe biden has for the first time pulled ahead of donald trump in georgia, a key state in the us presidential race. mr trump must win there to leave him with a path to re—election. mr biden has now edged ahead by a little over

1000 votes, with about 1% of the votes still to be counted. these are postal ballots, which are likely to favour the democrats. let's take a quick look at the electoral college numbers as they stand right now. joe biden is in the lead with 253, while president trump has 21a. and remember, a candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to secure the presidency. mr trump himself has repeated claims of voter fraud without providing proof. his rival, mr biden, has said he expects to win the election. ben wright reports from washington. he didn't sound like a president confident of victory. instead, donald trump appeared in the white house to denigrate america's electoral process and make a slew of unfounded claims about voting and fraud.

if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. we think there is going to be a lot of litigation, as we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it's going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land. with his chances of re—election appearing to recede by the hour, the president made a wholly false distinction between votes cast in person on the day and votes cast by mail. both are legal and both are still being counted. some in the president's own party spoke out. on twitter, the republican governor of maryland, larry hogan, said there was no defence for the president's comments, undermining the democratic process. there is no evidence of postal voting fraud and, in georgia, a state donald trump must win to have a chance of taking the white house, his early lead has been shrinking fast as mail—in ballots a re processed.

in pennsylvania, a state with 20 electoral college votes, donald trump's election night lead has been eroded, too. the trump campaign has filed a lawsuit to press for closer scrutiny of the ballot—counting process but the state's top election official has strongly defended the count. the strength of the integrity of this vote is really unparalleled. same when you vote in person, right, you have to be registered, you go in, you sign in the poll book. all these things are tracked. good afternoon, folks. joe biden's tone and tactics could not be more different to the president he is now confident of replacing. we have no doubt, when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. so i ask everyone to stay calm, all the people to stay calm. while there are still votes to count, ajoe biden presidency is not a certainty and his slim lead over donald trump in arizona narrowed during thursday. donald trump does not want to be a one—term president and he is willing to rubbish america's democratic reputation to try and hold on. but it is the states in charge of counting the votes and that process continues,

no matter what mr trump says. joe biden has said he will try to unite this divided country if he wins the election. if donald trump is on his way out of the white house, he hasn't made that task any easier. ben wright, bbc news, washington. we can cross to atlanta, georgia now and our correspondent there larry madow. what is the latest tally? this morning, joe biden has for the first time over taken the lead that president trump has. joe biden is now ahead in georgia by about 1096 votes. the whole day yesterday president trump's lead continue to shrink as more votes were counted, so shrink as more votes were counted, so what is happening was they counted on election day, and president trump was ahead, but when the mail—in ballots started to be counted, more ofjoe biden's votes came in, and there is probably no conspiracy here. president trump has spent a long time undermining the legitimacy of postal ballots, so his

supporters don't believe in it, and at the same time, joe biden encourage democratic supporters to vote for him by mail, and that seems to be happening. there are a few thousand votes outstanding, so we might seea thousand votes outstanding, so we might see a slightly larger lead for joe biden here. and these are of course razor—thin margins right now, but still very significant, because georgia has not been won by democrat since 1992 when bill clinton took it, so for three decades this has been a republican stronghold. how significant is it thatjoe biden looks to be this close ? thatjoe biden looks to be this close? the democrats are still feeling confident that they will ta ke feeling confident that they will take georgia, partly because of the surgical precision in campaigning in the state of georgia and also because of what president trump has been saying, especially to black voters. they feel like that has encouraged a lot of black voters to go out and vote, a lot of other people who are outraged by the

president's remarks. if president trump loses georgia, it will be devastating. there doesn't seem to bea devastating. there doesn't seem to be a path to 270 without georgia, but also it has undercut his entire argument that more votes are being found in democratic run elections. georgia is run by republican governor and a republican secretary of state, republican local officials, and he still appears to be losing here. so when will we know? well, this is the question. come on, let us know! we have been waiting all week! i have been trying to get my crystal ball to work, and we don't know. officials tell us here they are trying to be accurate more than fast, and the whole world is watching. it is indeed. stay with it, larry, patience is the watchword, keep those votes coming. may be around 10.30. that is the

hour to watch, thank you very much, larry in atlanta, georgia. i'm joined now by our correspondent will grant. will, you are in washington, where do we stand? it really is still on a bit of a knife edge. this is a huge development that we have just been hearing from larry there, it is obviously vital forjoe hearing from larry there, it is obviously vitalforjoe biden hearing from larry there, it is obviously vital forjoe biden from his point of view to get in the lead everywhere where he is not currently in the lead, and this one is important because without it, from president trump's camp, he simply can't get across the line on those 270 electoral college votes he needs. but it is not the only state of play. pennsylvania, fascinating. they have 20 much desired electoral couege they have 20 much desired electoral college votes, and we could hear about those by the end of the day too. arizona is still in play where joe biden's lead is gradually being eaten away by president trump. can he hold onto that by the end of all

the votes being counted? and of course there is still nevada which is only as it were just six electoral college votes, but literally every one of them counts at this stage, so it is really getting exciting at this stage. at this stage? i think it has been exciting for the last three days, but there we go! bring us up to date with where we are with the lawsuits. a flurry of legal action coming from president trump. he is threatening more. are any of these legal challenges affecting the vote count, or the way they're being counted?” think we can certainly expect more. we can expect more particularly in georgia if he ends up not holding onto that state. just in terms of ordering a recount, if the margin of victory is below half a percentage point, then either candidate has the right to call for that, and we can be pretty sure that donald trump

will do so. but in terms of the other legal actions taking place, we saw that they had a small victory, the trump camp, in pennsylvania, in gaining access. this is what they we re gaining access. this is what they were complaining about, that they weren't able to get their observers close enough to the action to be able to see what was going on inside the vote count. they have now been allowed for their observers to see within six feet of vote count officials what is taking place in those halls. so they played that is a big victory, the democrats are saying, it is not actually that important. i think we can be pretty sure that the legal side of this will run and run. anywhere he is not in the lead, any state that he has not taken which is crucial, we will see them lawyering up, we will see suits filed, and similarly, joe biden will also have his legal team at the ready. as america is waking

up at the ready. as america is waking up this morning to still the news that there is no winner of this presidential election, the president making accusations of voter fraud which he has not produced any evidence for, and these agonisingly slow counts, how would you sum up the mood of the nation right now?m has been so fascinating. i am often based in latin america, and i have seen based in latin america, and i have seen vote counts up and down the breadth and length of the americas, and at times there have been echoes of vote counts elsewhere, nations where washington turns around and says, be careful with what you are doing, don't speak like that if you are the president, we will wait to see all votes counted. and then here we saw the president from the podium and the white house casting aspersions to say the least without any evidence on the vote count

itself. that was staggering to me, and i'm sure to any other people watching. in terms of the sort of mood, ijust think people are extremely keen now to have clarity, and that extends to both sides. there was joe and that extends to both sides. there wasjoe biden calling for calm, and by and large, there has been. and that will potentially remain the way, that if there is this belief by one side or the other that the election has been stolen from them, has been taken through fraudulent means, then all of the elements for potential conflict and anger and violence spilling out into the streets that we have seen throughout this year are there again. we say on a knife edge, because it has that element to it. it is very combustible, and potentially very worrying. but i think the end is in sight on one level at least. will grant with the

very latest for us from washington. and this really is what this election needs, is clarity. and as long as these counts eke out the confusion, it has the potential and, as well was just saying, to ratchet up as well was just saying, to ratchet up the tensions, and nobody wants that at the moment. so which states have yet to declare and what potential routes remain for each candidate to win? my colleague reeta chakrabarti in london has the numbers. jane, we were talking to each other a8 hours ago about how it was all going to come down to a handful of swing states, and so it has proved. and with that news thatjoe biden hasinched and with that news thatjoe biden has inched ahead in georgia, it is looking as if president trump's chances of hanging on to the white house are gradually receding, and thatis house are gradually receding, and that is just all a question of the electoral maths. let's go to georgia. i'm sure every body knows this by now, but it is the five

grade states that are key at the moment. alaska is also great, but we can almost discount that because that almost certainly will go for donald trump. but let's look at georgia, where all eyes are at the moment. there is nothing, according to the bald figures, to separate the candidates. they are nearly all counted, 99% of the votes counted, and at the last luck, joe biden was 1096 votes ahead of donald trump. there are still 68 counties to tot up there are still 68 counties to tot up their votes, and what georgia is showing is that there is a gradual move, there has been a gradual move, towards joe move, there has been a gradual move, towardsjoe biden move, there has been a gradual move, towards joe biden from move, there has been a gradual move, towardsjoe biden from donald trump because of the counting of the early voting, those mail—in ballots and some of the early person voting. i'm going to take you back to the main map and look again at the other state in which biden seems to be

catching donald trump up. here you can see that they are not quite as faron in the can see that they are not quite as far on in the vote count, still a% of the votes to be counted. he had trump has a bald figure lead of 18,229 votes, but we have still got to get the votes in from philadelphia, philadelphia a heavily democratic leaning city. of the votes there, there are 91% which have been counted, and 80% offerjoe biden, so while donald trump retains a lead in pennsylvania, again, joe biden appears to be eating into that lead. let's go back to the state of play as it is at the moment, sojoe play as it is at the moment, sojoe biden, we are projecting that he is on 253 electoral college votes, donald trump on 21a. let's see what happens if he does in fact succeed in getting those two states. i'm

going to use my blue pen here and assume that joe going to use my blue pen here and assume thatjoe biden does get georgia. you can see that he is then one electoral college votes short of winning the presidency. if this happens, if he wins georgia, it becomes mathematically impossible for president trump to secure enough electoral college votes to hang on the presidency. if we assume that joe biden wins in pennsylvania, that ta kes joe biden wins in pennsylvania, that takes him well over the line of 270, to 289, and i'mjust takes him well over the line of 270, to 289, and i'm just going to pop in nevada. if he hangs on to nevada which was won by hillary clinton in 2016, and if he does succeed in arizona, that takes him to 306, which is exactly the tally that president trump got in 2016. reeta, thank you very much for that. those numbers inching up, that much changing. we won't know the final result for some time. for now, that's it for me here in washington,

but i'm now handing back to london. thank you very much, jane o'brien with the latest from washington. the office for national statistics says coronavirus infections in england appear to have stabilised at around 50,000 infections per day. their latest figures show there were around a6,000 infections per day in england last week — slightly down on last week's 52,000. it means that last week one in 90 people had coronavirus. let's take you straight to edinburgh, where the first minister nicola sturgeon is holding a news conference and giving an update on the coronavirus pandemic in scotland. the summit of the british irish council enables leaders of the irish government, the uk government, the devolved administrations, wales, scotla nd devolved administrations, wales, scotland and northern ireland and the crown dependencies to discuss keyissues the crown dependencies to discuss key issues together, it is a very valuable forum. as you might expect, the main issue we discussed today was the economic impact of covid and

indeed our experiences with covid more generally. it was a very constructive discussion, and we agreed to continue to work constructively and collectively as we continue to steer our way through this pandemic. let me also reflect a given that it is an issue i have touched on a couple of times already this week that yesterday the chancellor announced that the current furlough scheme will continue until march next year. as you know, the scottish government has been calling for that extension for some time, so we very much welcome that commitment. it ensures that support will be there for businesses in scotland both under the current restrictions and also if a stronger action becomes necessary in order to suppress the virus, and of course gives some much needed assurance for workers who are affected by the pandemic and the restrictions used to control it. it obviously we will be considering the levels of restrictions in place in different parts of the country over

the weekend and into the early part of next week. the first review point of next week. the first review point of our new level system is due on tuesday. i will set out on tuesday in the scottish parliament what we are proposing at that time, and also the reasons behind our decisions, but over today and at the weekend we will continue to very closely monitor the data so that those decisions which will be difficult and finely balanced are based on the most up to date picture possible. now, there are three other issues i wa nt to now, there are three other issues i want to briefly cover today. the first, at least in part, concerns an announcement that was made last night. the scottish government updated last night the list of countries that are subject to quarantine restrictions, and we have now added germany and sweden to that list. that means that from aam tomorrow, anyone travelling to scotla nd tomorrow, anyone travelling to scotland from either of those countries will be required to self—isolate for 1a days upon their return. but i can also confirm that

as of this morning and on the advice of the chief medical officer, we have also now removed denmark from the quarantine exemption list. that means as of 12.30 today, just a few minutes from now, anyone travelling to scotland from denmark will require to quarantine for 1a days. as you may have seen on the media, in the media this morning, health authorities in denmark have reported cases in humans of a variant strain of the virus associated with outbreaks in mink farms. we have taken this decision on a precautionary basis, but it is important that we do so, the uk government announced a similar move last night. danish authorities we know are working very hard to contain this situation, but of course we will continue to consider whether there is a need for any further protections. uk cmos will consider updated information later

today to assess whether any additional action beyond quarantine may be required, and i will ensure that we keep everybody updated in the normal ways. again, these changes to countries on the quarantine list really reflect how quickly levels of the virus in any country or area, whether that is here or at home or overseas can change. i'm afraid however difficult thatis, change. i'm afraid however difficult that is, and it is difficult for everybody, it is inherent, and it is the nature of an accelerating global pandemic, and it underlines why we are continuing to very strongly advise against any nonessential travel overseas right now, and i wa nt to travel overseas right now, and i want to underline that advice to all of you today. the second issue i wa nt to of you today. the second issue i want to cover is also related to the issue of travel. before i cover this point, let mejust issue of travel. before i cover this point, let me just repeat that the scottish government's very clear advice right now is that people should not travel to other parts of

the uk unless that is for essential purposes. however, we recognise that some people will have an essential reason to do so, that might be related to work or education, or it may involve caring responsibilities. and so it is really important that our test and protect system is able to ta ke our test and protect system is able to take account of that. you might remember that last week i announced improvements to the protect scotland app which means that it now works in both northern ireland and jersey, and their apps work into operably in scotland. that was through nhs scotland's work to produce a server that allows the apps to work together. today i can confirm that the english and welsh app has now been updated and joined the nhs scotla nd been updated and joined the nhs scotland server. so that means that if you have to travel to any other pa rt if you have to travel to any other part of the uk, jersey or gibraltar, you can keep using the protect scotla nd you can keep using the protect scotland app, you don't have to deactivate it and download the app

for the particular part of the uk that you are in. and then you will be notified if someone you are in close contact with gets covid and enters that into their app, even if thatis enters that into their app, even if that is the app of one of the other countries. discussions are also under way about ensuring that the protect scotland app can operate in other countries across europe, and we will continue to look at any other changes which might enhance its capabilities. today almost 1.6 million people in scotland have downloaded the app. it has already notified more than 13,000 contacts and tell them to self—isolate. and in some cases, these people would not otherwise have been notified, and in most cases the notification would have been quicker because it was done automatically through the app and not through manual contact tracing. so if you haven't downloaded the app yet, then please, if you are able to do so, please do that. and secondly, once you have downloaded the app, if you test positive for covid, please make sure

that when the contact tray set gives you the code, you enter that code into the app. i know that sounds like an obvious thing to say, but we know not over body does that, and obviously unless you do that, the app does not work in the way that it is intended. the app is an additional tool that all of us can use to help keep ourselves safe and people around us safe. now, my third update for today is about mental health and well—being support for students. this pandemic has placed an additional and quite severe strain in many places on peoples health and well—being, but we know that that pressure is particularly on students, many are away from home for the first time, which is an extra pressure for young people, but they are also having to adapt to new forms of learning and socialising, and many students have also had to

deal with the challenges of self—isolating. £1.3 million has been allocated by the scottish government to provide for mental health well—being for students. it could be used to expand counselling services, to deliver more support online or improve the ability to check on the welfare of students. each institution, college or university will be able to spend the money in a way that they think best meets the needs of their own students, but it should help to ensure that all students get the right support whenever they need it. finally today, given the date and the importance of this weekend, i wa nt to the importance of this weekend, i want to say just a few the importance of this weekend, i want to sayjust a few brief the importance of this weekend, i want to say just a few brief words about remembrance sunday and remembrance day itself. these are a lwa ys remembrance day itself. these are always hugely important occasions for our country, so all of us really regret the fact that because of the

covid pandemic, commemorations this year have to be very different to normal. at the moment in areas of scotla nd normal. at the moment in areas of scotland under levels 2, 3 or a, outdoor gatherings are not permitted, which means that many local and national events will not be able to take place this year, or will have to be significantly scaled backin will have to be significantly scaled back in terms of numbers of people. obviously this is necessary in order to curtail the virus, but it does not and it should not mean that remembrance sunday and remembrance day go unmarked. on sunday on behalf of the nation, i will lay a wreath at the scottish national war memorial at edinburgh castle, and across the country, services at places of worship will still take place, although there are restrictions on the numbers of attendees. of course i would encourage everybody from the safety of your own doorstep to observe the

two—minute silence at 11 o'clock, both on sunday and on remembrance day, to come to your doorstep and collectively as a country to show our respect and appreciation. that will be an important way of honouring all those who died in the two world wars and subsequent conflicts, and it allows all of us to show our respect for the continuing service and sacrifice of our armed forces, which is important every year, but i think this year all of us are remembering even more the debt of gratitude we owe to each other and how dependent we are on each other, and that solidarity that is so important in our country. these are the main points i want to cover today. before we start taking questions, though, iwilljust cover today. before we start taking questions, though, i willjust close with my usual reminder of the current rules and guidelines, and remind you that we are seeing signs for cautious optimism in our data in scotland, but we cannot be

complacent if we are to continue that progress, and we must accelerate that progress. then it ta kes all of accelerate that progress. then it takes all of us doing all of the right things. the good news is we know when we do those things, difficult though they are, they do make a difference, but they should also remind us that none of us are powerless in the face of this virus. so if you are living in one of the areas at level 3, which is most of the central belt and also dundee, please don't travel outside your local authority area unless it is essential. you can find out what b we mean by essential on the scottish government website, but it includes works that you can't do at home or caring responsibilities. people in other parts of scotland, please do not travel into a level 3 local authority except for the same essential purposes, and as i indicated earlier on, we are asking everybody right now not to travel outside of scotland to other parts of the uk or overseas, again unless you have an essential reason for doing so. travel restrictions are

essential. as i indicated earlier on, it was one of the things in the context of covid that the british irish council discussed earlier on, how is we all seek to suppress the virus within our own borders, we work together to ensure that it doesn't spread from high to low prevalence areas. that is important between countries, but it is also important within countries, particularly when, as is the case in scotla nd particularly when, as is the case in scotland right now, we are trying to apply restrictions in a targeted and proportionate way, which means that our variations in different parts of the country —— there are variations in different parts of the country. please remember the travel restrictions on the importance and abiding by those. no matter where you live in scotland right now, you should not be visiting somebody else's home, again for very specific purposes like childcare or caring for a vulnerable person. we know transmission within homes is one of the biggest risks, and has also in recent weeks been one of the biggest reasons because people have not been

doing that that we have seen the virus start to flatten off, and hopefully now go into decline. when you are meeting with other households outdoors or in indoor public places, remember the limited six people, and those six people should not come from any more than two households. continue to work from home if you can, as i said a moment ago, download the protect scotla nd moment ago, download the protect scotland app, and remember the five key rules that will help keep all of us are key rules that will help keep all of us are safe as possible. where a face covering, avoid places where there are crowds of people, clean your hands regularly and don't forget to clean hard surfaces, keep two metres distance from people in other households and self—isolate and get tested if you experience any of the symptoms of covid. all of us doing all of these things is making a difference. please believe me when i say that. but we have no room for complacency. as i have said repeatedly during this week, it is not enough as we head into winter to stabilise the infection rate at the level it is at right now. that would

not be a stable position to go deep into the winter with. we must drive the infection down to help protect health and lives, but also to try, particularly over the christmas period, to open up a greater degree of normality than we are living with right now, so thank you for all the sacrifices you are making, and please for now continue to make them for the good of the country as a whole. i will now go straight to questions. we will leave the first minister of scotla nd we will leave the first minister of scotland there as she takes questions from reporters. just a quick recap of what she was saying. there has been 1072 new cases of covid—19 reported in scotland in the last 2a hours, and 31 people have died who had tested positive in the last 28 days. there are no 1237 people in hospital. that is 15 fewer

than yesterday. an increase of three people in intensive care since yesterday. sweden, germany and denmark have been added to the list of countries that if you visit and go back to scotland, you would need to self—isolate for 1a days. she confirmed scotland's nhs tracking app now works in other parts of the uk, so scots travelling to england, northern ireland, wales, won't have to download a different app. one of the uk's biggest nhs trusts has stopped all scheduled procedures at one of its hospitals due to concerns about capacity. the queen elizabeth hospital birmingham has published a statement saying ‘all planned procedures have been postponed due the significant increase in the number of very sick patients admitted to our hospitals as an emergency‘. with me is our correspondent phil mackie. they were warning over two weeks ago

that the number of admissions they we re that the number of admissions they were getting from coronavirus patients was rising so quickly that they feared they might have to cancel elective operations. they said at the time that they effectively had 30 itu beds set aside for covid—19 patients. if it went above 30, they would have to cancel the elective operations. today, they have 36 patients on itu, and i'm afraid this is inevitable. people that have been waiting for knee surgery, that kind of thing, it will have to be postponed. it may already have been postponed from earlier in the year, but that is because the number of patients they are getting in at the moment is increasing all the time. they had 389 patients across all the hospitals in the trust with coronavirus. that is half as many as they had earlier on in the year at they had earlier on in the year at the height of the first wave, but far more than they had two months

ago when they only had 60 across the trust. but they are also saying that procedures for gynaecology will also be paused for the month of november at one of the other hospitals in the trust, the hope in sutton, but we are seeing that there is a lag in the effects that lockdown will take. they are expecting the number of admissions to go up in the next few weeks. hugely concerning to those patients have probably been waiting quite a long time to get the procedure that they need. besides treating coronavirus patients, which are the illnesses that are going to continue to be treated's they are not postponing serious, emergency operations. the most serious that have to be treated will still go ahead. they still have the capacity to deal with that. remember at the

peak in april and early may, they we re peak in april and early may, they were not even able, sometimes, to deal with some of the people that we re deal with some of the people that were in dire need. these are elective procedures, the ones that people are managing and getting on without them. people he needs to come in and spend a day on itu are able to be looked after safely. it isa able to be looked after safely. it is a worry. it is not happening in all of the hospitals across the midlands, but this increasing hospital admissions, midlands, but this increasing hospitaladmissions, largely midlands, but this increasing hospital admissions, largely people who have contracted coronavirus to two weeks ago, it is still going to go on. even today, there was a briefing from public health officials in nottingham saying that to you to and tier 3 measures had had an impact on reducing the rates there. but they haven't reduced them quickly enough to stop those hospital admissions going up, and they expect them to keep going up for the next few weeks. thank you

very much. the uk's first mass testing programme gets under way in liverpool city today. hundreds of thousands of people living or working there will be able to access repeat coronavirus tests — and the new centres are to test people without symptoms. if successful, the government say pilots could be rolled out to millions by christmas. our correspondent dan johnson has been in the city this morning. we have just seen a coachload of soldiers turn up here. they will be one of the first places to roll out this programme of mass testing. this isa this programme of mass testing. this is a drive—through area where the traditional cursor available. the sort of test that normally gives a resulting 2a hours. they are hoping give those back in 2a hours. the tennis centre will become a walk—in centre where people can come and get

a really quick result rapids test. that is the flow test that is supposed to give a result in a 20 minutes or half—an—hour. the idea is that people across the city would be able to come and get tested whenever they want. it is entirely voluntary, not mandatory, but whenever they wa nt not mandatory, but whenever they want a test they can get one, either by ringing up whereby coming and getting one. it is available to all ages and regardless of symptoms. this is a pilot that is being run to establish the logistics that are necessary to make this work and see if it is effective in identifying exactly how many people are carrying the virus, and then whether it is effective in isolating enough people to get numbers down. liverpool has had some of the highest case numbers in the country and the pressures on hospital has been particularly intense. that is why this city has been chosen. there have been some questions about the efficiency and effectiveness of some of those

tests, but the local authorities are saying that they are reliable and useful and that liverpool is not being used as a test site or guinea pig city as some people have said, but that this is the most effective way to identify who has got the virus and then get the case numbers down here. the prime minister has stressed that people in england should stay at home, as a second lockdown begins. borisjohnson said he knew people were weary but four weeks of measures would make a "real impact" on the virus. here's our health and science correspondent james gallagher to talk us through the strategy of the second lockdown. lockdown is the measure nobody wanted, but the government has decided we need. the aim is simply to avoid hospitals buckling under the weight of coronavirus and to stop people dying. the number of patients in hospital is already rising. without a lockdown, there are fears about the nhs's ability to cope

both with covid and other diseases, too. remember, this virus can spread easily. at the start of the pandemic the number of people each infected person passed the virus onto, known as the r number, was three. this is explosive growth. the changes we've all made to our lives did make a difference. on the eve of lockdown, the r number was around 1.2. look at the impact — the virus was spreading far more slowly. but cases were still growing — so lockdown should make it so hard for the virus to spread that cases actually fall. the problem is we don't know how well it's going to work. there are around 50,000 people being infected every day. some estimates suggest that after a brief rise, infections could fall by more than two—thirds by the end of lockdown. but in a worst case, four weeks of pain might lead to just a 10 or 20% drop and leave

us in a sticky situation. this huge uncertainty comes partly from schools. millions of children will still be in the classroom this time and we just don't know what that means. it will take around two weeks before we can tell how well lockdown is working. the worry though is that as soon as we lift restrictions, cases could start to rise again. the problem is we don't know what is going to happen in the future. will there be more waves of covid—19 that need to control it? bat restrictions. —— restrictions. the hope is this one will buy time to research a vaccine,

improve the testing programme or at least get us closer to spring when the warmer weather will make it harder for the virus to spread. students at the university of manchester have torn down security fencing that was put up around parts of the campus accomodation on day one of england's lockdown. the university has since apologised and say all the barriers, which were put up without any warning to the residents, will be removed this morning. the moment when students tore down what they called a wall. the erection of the barriers had generated enormous anger, with crowds of students marching through the fallowfield campus. the university said the fences were meant as a security measure to help avoid what it called the mixing of households. but construction started before residents were informed. students saw them as yet another infringement of their liberty. we have no access to communal spaces and now they are locking us up. they are locking us up from our green spaces, they are locking us up from seeing people in other halls. it is not our fault. it is not our fault! cheering. manchester university's vice chancellor has now apologised for the concern and distress caused by the fence. professor dame nancy rothwell said it was never their intention to stop students entering or leaving the site. dismantling of the barrier will start this morning.

the university says it will be replaced by extra security patrols. andy moore, bbc news. we heard yesterday the furlough scheme will be extended till the end of march, and will continue to cover the wages of workers who are unable to do theirjob because of coronavirus restrictions. the chancellor rishi sunak has also extended help for the self—employed. our business correspondent, katie prescott reports. at the start of the first lockdown, the word "furlough" suddenly became very familiar. the aim of the scheme was simple, a grant to pay 80% of the wages of those who could not work because of coronavirus restrictions. since its start, over 9 million people have been supported by it. but as restrictions eased, the scheme was being wound down, due to end on the 31st of october. a less generous replacement was planned. but last saturday, borisjohnson announced a new four—week lockdown in england with businesses across the country told to close their doors. and, at the same time,

he announced a month—long extension of the furlough scheme across the uk, broadly similar to the original. but the chancellor has now said the scheme will run until the end of march — a huge relief to many businesses and their staff. the extension of the furlough scheme is undoubtedly positive. my team will have some income for that period of time. the problem is that there may not be a business that is as strong at the end of it because we will have a heavily—reduced income. we would typically be bringing in 80% of our profit for the year during november and december and i was counting on that for our recovery. there was also an extension of the scheme designed to help the self—employed and to business loan programmes. but about 3 million people are still falling through the cracks of government help. being ineligible for the grants has made me primarily very angry and very disheartened. we put money aside for many years to cover ourselves for this kind of situation in terms of maybe

a small window of time that we do not have work but we could never have seen something like this happening with no idea as to when we are going to be able to work again and when the money is going to run out. the chancellor's measures have been criticised for coming too late in the day for many businesses who had already decided to let people go. in response, the government says... "anyone made redundant after the 23rd of september can be rehired and put back on furlough." at a cost of more than £50 billion so far, it's hugely expensive but the government feels it is better than the human cost of mass unemployment. katie prescott, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... still no result in the us presidential election as democratjoe biden edges closer to the white house, taking a narrow lead in georgia, from today, everyone living

or working in liverpool will be offered coronavirus tests, whether or not they have symptoms — in the uk's first mass testing programme. businesses and employees digest the extension of the uk furlough scheme to the end of march — and work out what it will mean for them. a covid testing app promoted by zara tindall, the queen's granddaughter, has been referred to the medical regulator because of concerns that the way it has been marketed may contradict government guidance. the v—health passport is supposed to help fans get back to sporting events. our special correspondent lucy manning reports. it has high—level endorsements. hi, i'm zara tindall. an olympian who happens to be the queen's granddaughter. hi, i'm mike tindall. and her husband, a former england rugby player. it is an app launched to try to get covid—free spectators back

watching sporting events. the fans can see and have the confidence to come back to the sport. but it has been reported to the medicines regulator and this is why. zara tindall takes an antibody test and, a few minutes later, is told she is infection—free. as you can see, you are clearly negative covid—19, covid infection. good news for you as well, mike, you are in the same situation, so it is just a valid test with no presence of covid—19. it would have been really awkward for you if one of us had had it and the other didn't. but antibody tests cannot tell if someone currently has covid, only possibly if they've had it in the past. there is a push to get fans back, but this is false information, claims the professor who put in the complaint. they take their masks off when they are told they do not have covid. we will all be thinking that we are safe at that point. so if people use these tests, they get a negative result and then they go and think that they have not got covid when they still could be infectious. that might mean that people don't

social distance and so on. and that might increase the risk of actually spreading covid. antibody tests take blood and can potentially show people if they've had coronavirus previously. but the company says its antibody test is different in that it can show people if they have covid three to four days after they've got the infection. but that could still miss those at the start of the disease. the company, vst enterprises, said the test shown was illustrative. it said... zara tindall is not the queen's only grandchild involved with covid tests. peter philips' firm is much clearer that antibody tests should not be used to diagnose covid.

but there is still doubt as to how useful they are at the moment. the vast majority of antibody test for covid antibodies are not there yet. there are lots of good developments coming down, but they are not there yet. so you have to be very careful with these. v—health passport could be a game changer for fans getting back to watching the sports they love. the testing companies are trying to help the desire for life to resume, but there needs to be balance, with the public being sure the tests do as they say. lucy manning, bbc news. children in need is on the 13th november. it's been running for a0 years, and as a way to celebrate, and highlight the value of your donations, the bbc is looking at how the money raised throughout the years has been spent. alfie and his family who have been dealing with serious illness were filmed with them before the current lockdown, in a tier1 area. fiona lamdin reports. boo! found you!

here i am! it's like the bottom falls out of your world. you don't think it's ever going to happen to you, and it did happen to us. i think it was the first night that he stayed in hospital, i couldn't get any sleep. all i could think about really was that he might die tonight. it was really scary. seven—year—old alfie has down syndrome. he'd started to not want to walk, and he's saying his legs hurt and rubbing his thighs. and nine months ago, just before lockdown, his family were told their little boy was very sick. my husband rang me and said, "the hospital have been trying to get hold of you, can you go straight back now?" and ijust thought, "that's not ever going to be good news." we went straight to oncology to try and get a blood transfusion for alfie immediately because he was so poorly. routine blood tests had picked up

alfie had leukaemia. well, they tried all night to get a catheter into alfie's vein to give him this blood transfusion and they couldn't do it. we had four teams of doctors come and try through the night, which was obviously very distressing for alfie. and then we put a bit of water in... nancy is nine. she's alfie's older sister. she helps give his daily chemotherapy. i had no idea what leukaemia was, but i did know what cancer was and was like, cancer can be deadly. i was so scared. and five weeks on, alfie was responding so well to treatment he was allowed home. when he came home, it was lovely. i loved it, i loved it, i loved it. but with the country still in lockdown, they had to completely isolate to keep him well. we can take away some of those sort of very important, necessary tasks.

but the family were never alone. thanks to your donations to children in need they had janet, a clic sargent social worker. janet hasjust been a little bit of an outside world lifeline. she understands the world hasn't stopped when your child has cancer. and she knows how to navigate the finances and the work, and the normality that you still have to maintain. and she helps you do that. janet has given advice, sorted out funding and most importantly found a drum teacher for alfie. it's just a great lesson. he's just such a great kid, so much energy, so much fun. alfie will need chemotherapy every day for the next 18 months. i don't think we will relax until we get to the end. he'sjust great.

he's just so funny, so full of life, and he just adorable. and so far, doctors are confident that for him and his family the future looks bright. fiona lamdin, bbc news. remembrance day services may have been cancelled this year, but the royal british legion is calling on the public to come together in other ways to honour those who have served in our armed forces. for the first time in poppy appeal history, there won't be any collectors on the streets and people will be observing the two—minute silence from their doorstep. graham satchell reports. this was armistice day in bedworth in warwickshire last year. they've held a parade here since 1921 but this year, in lockdown, things will be different. we have produced 19,000 of these documents — these flyers — to put in people's windows,

asking them to remember the fallen on armistice day at 11 o'clock along with us on their doorstep. the ceremony in bedworth normally ends with thousands of poppies dropped from the sky over the war memorial. it is one tradition they're determined to maintain with a slight change. we're going to take the poppies to the people. we're going to direct it around the town — the perimeter of the town, so that people, on their doorsteps, will get the poppies, hopefully. the parade is coming to you, or the poppies are coming to you. can you see that all right? yes. how lovely! must be a very proud moment for you, betty. it was wonderful. this is 97—year—old betty webb getting her mbe. betty is a veteran of bletchley park. bletchley, home to the code breakers, credited with shortening the war, saving countless lives. betty has laid a wreath

on armistice day for as long as she can remember, but not this year. sadly, of course, this year we don't quite know what we're going to do about marking the occasion. i just think it's very sad that we have got to bow to the fact that we mustn't congregate in big numbers. i can see that but it's still, for me, it's very sad. jim hooper was a glider pilot in world war ii. after d—day, he flew 30 men and equipment into holland and fought at the battle of arnhem, where he was taken prisoner. we had a lot of wounded, a lot killed. and that was it. and this german standing over me with a stick grenade and others surrendering as well and that was it. that was the end of my sojourn in parma and arnhem.

and on remembrance sunday, do you take a moment to remember your lost friends? yes. well, yes i do, actually. notjust on remembrance sunday. on many other occasions. and, yes, the names of many i still remember. in plymouth, nine—year—old maisie has transformed where she lives from bluebell street to poppy street. she's delivered posters to neighbours to put up in their windows and put poppies on all the lamp posts. i think we should be remembering the people who served us in the army because they risked their lives for us. maisie's dad james was medically discharged from the army in 2017. it's hard to describe the pride i have for her and the fact it's

all come from her heart is just truly amazing. the royal british legion is urging everyone to gather on their doorsteps at 11 o'clock on sunday morning, to come together as a nation, to remember. graham satchell, bbc news. we will be keeping an eye on those votes as they are counted in those last remaining states in the united states as joe last remaining states in the united states asjoe biden looks to be edging closer to the white house. now it is time for the weather. i required whether story continues, but at this time of year, a quiet weather story can also bring fog. that is what some of us have seen this morning and it has been slower to lift away. others started with sunshine. a beautiful morning in

aberdeen, but it won't be as warm today as it was yesterday. you can see from the satellite picture how much sunshine we have got. a reasonable day. a5 north—west of scotland, that cloud expect. a spot of drizzle here. little bit more of a fresher breeze down into the south—west as well. temperatures fairly widespread into the low teens. we are looking at highs of around ten to 13 degrees. through the overnight period, light winds across the country and we are likely to see some fog forming, particularly close to the scottish borders. this may be slow to clear first thing. low single figures into the final. a chilly start here. we will see milder errors start to the south—west. through saturday, some of that will lift away, but may well lift the cloud away from central england and could suppress the temperatures are little. more of a

breeze, the risk of a future was across the south—west and more sunshine along the south coast. temperatures starting to improve here. 15 or 16. further north, we are looking at nine to 13 celsius. likely to see a change in saturday. weather fronts trying to push in from the west. it will drag in a milderair from the west. it will drag in a milder air with it. it will bring in rain as well, not for all of us, mostly affecting central and southern areas for a time as it moves its way steadily up northern ireland and into parts of scotland. more in the way of cloud in the second half of the weekend. they will be outbreaks of rain, particularly the further west you are, buta particularly the further west you are, but a small bit milder, with highs of 16 degrees. more of the same to come as we move into monday with a series of fronts trying to push in from the south—west. again, we are not expecting too much on the way of significant rainfall, but it will bring with it a west and east divide. outbreaks of rain on monday, a little bit quieter as we go into

tuesday.

joe biden is edging closer to the white house — with just a handful of states still counting votes in the presidential election in georgia, one of the key states, mr biden isjust ahead — but president trump remains adamant the democrats are stealing victory. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. the president has launched legal battles but hasn't presented

any evidence of fraud.